In other words one person out of thousands who are pump and dumping shitcoins is charged with insider trading. They should take a look at some social media to see the pump and dump groups that are scamming people on a daily basis.
I understand that the trades in question were made in advance of Coinbase announcing asset listings. So according to the DOJ, Wahi knew in advance that x token was about to get listed on Coinbase, and bought the token ahead of the announcement.
it wasnt that pump and dumps happened. it was the timing of certain tokens right before coinbase told the public they were going to add it, meaning only a select few knew of the up coming adding of the token to the market listing. thus too coincidental that particular coins were pumped right when the secret talks happened internally about future market list additions, where the general public wouldnt know(yet)
Right, now I understand a bit more. Fair enough then, if Coinbase acted upon this themselves, i.e started the investigation themselves, it at least shows a bit of integrity, especially since they've released it to the press also. Could've easily brush it under the rug to save face (which is what I thought might have happened with the mass firings).
It is not clear to me who initiated the investigation, however, I do understand that Coinbase was investigating the employee in question and that he was fired prior to being indicted. He apparently bought a one-way ticket to India the day he was supposed to have a meeting with Coinbase security team.
What do you think of this case? I'm not sure if this is the first time we have heard "insider trader" in cryptocurrency.
I believe this is the first insider trading criminal case in the US. I understand that the case depends on the coins that Wahi is alledged to have traded as being "securities", and I don't think crypto meets that definition.
