DWF Labs, a Dubai-based crypto investment firm, has come under scrutiny by blockchain analysts for alleged market manipulation involving large transfers of Floki Inu’s FLOKI token.
Independent crypto journalist Wu Blockchain highlighted suspicious FLOKI transactions from the project’s official address to a Binance wallet linked to DWF Labs. This has fueled claims that DWF is deliberately pumping FLOKI’s price through wash trading and coordinated buybacks.
On September 30th, Wu Blockchain tweeted that 15.8 billion FLOKI tokens were transferred from Floki’s multi-signature address to a Binance deposit address that has allegedly been used multiple times in the past for DWF Labs transactions.
This activity follows a series of large wallet movements by DWF Labs involving tokens like Frontier (FRONT) and Bluzelle (BLZ) leading up to major price spikes. DWF has attracted suspicions of orchestrating “painting the tape” schemes to simulate artificial demand and boost token prices temporarily.
DWF Labs Denies Manipulation Accusations
In response to the allegations, Andrei Grachev, Co-Founder of DWF Labs, strongly denied any manipulation or illegal pumping of cryptocurrency prices. Grachev claims the firm’s activities constitute legitimate trading.
“We don’t manipulate markets. We take advantage of opportunities that arise. Selling into demand is not market manipulation,” Grachev stated.
This rebuttal has done little to deter critics who believe the timing and scale of DWF’s recent large token transfers and sales point to coordinated price influence. But lacking access to DWF’s intent, definite proof of manipulation remains elusive.
Signs of Floki Token Price Recovery
Interestingly, the suspected Floki buyback has coincided with a reversal in the token’s price slide. After crashing over 95% from its all-time high of $0.00037 last November, FLOKI plunged below $0.0000015 in September 2022.
But over the past week, FLOKI has suddenly rallied over 333% back to $0.000005 following the alleged DWF-linked transactions. This unexpected recovery has fueled beliefs that DWF Labs is engineering an artificial price boost.
Time will tell whether FLOKI’s gains are sustained or quickly erased. But the episode illustrates the ease with which rumours and suspicion proliferate within the opaque crypto industry. For regulators and everyday investors alike, lack of transparency regarding big players’ market activities remains a major issue.
While DWF Labs continues maintaining its innocence, blockchain analysts are carefully scrutinizing its on-chain movements and trades for any signs of foul play. For now, the Crypto-Twitter jury remains out on the true motivations and repercussions.
