• Almost 25% of tokens launched in 2022 resembled P&D schemes, according to a report from Chainalysis.
• The report identified 445 wallets belonging to either individuals or groups, accounting for 24% of the 9,902 tokens that resemble P&D schemes.
• The most prolific suspected P&D scheme creator the report identified launched 264 tokens in 2022 that were amongst the 9,902 tokens detected.
Almost 25% of Tokens Launched in 2022 Resemble Pump-and-Dump Schemes
Chainalysis recently released a report revealing that 24% of tokens launched in 2022 experienced a significant price decline within the first week of launch. This suggests that these projects may have been used as part of pump-and-dump (P&D) schemes, which are characterized by misleading promotion and overvaluation followed by rapid selloff at an artificially high price. Of the 40,521 tokens analyzed, 9,902 fit this criteria.
Suspected Pump-and-Dump Scheme Creators Identified
The report also noted that many tokens had „honeypot“ coding preventing new buyers from selling their holdings after purchase. Furthermore, data pointed to 445 unique wallets belonging to individuals or groups involved with the suspicious activities — accounting for 24% of all tokens fitting the criteria for potential pump-and-dump schemes. The most prolific suspected P&D scheme creator identified in the report had launched 264 such tokens during 2022.
Analyzing Price Drops Within First Week After Launch
To further investigate whether these token launches were being used as part of pump and dump schemes or not, Chainalysis examined 25 specific cases where they recorded significant price drops within their first week after launch. While this does not necessarily mean that these projects were part of a P&D scheme per se (as market conditions could have caused them to crash), it does suggest that these projects lacked trustworthiness due to coding preventing buyers from selling their holdings and other suspicious activities associated with them such as multiple wallets being used for initial liquidity .
Caution Advised For Investors
The findings from this report indicate caution is advised when investing in newly issued assets on blockchain networks like Ethereum; as despite its benefits like speed and security it also presents risks due to lack of regulation and supervision around token sales. As such investors should educate themselves about any project they choose to invest in before taking action — researching things like team background and conducting thorough technical analysis on the project’s whitepaper can help identify potential red flags when assessing new investments opportunities.
Conclusion
In conclusion while blockchain networks provide investors with great opportunities they also come with risks due to lack of regulation — meaning investors need to be extra vigilant when assessing new investment opportunities as there are still malicious actors operating within this space creating fraudulent projects such as pump and dump schemes which can cause significant losses if one is not careful enough when investing their funds into crypto assets.