As a seasoned crypto investor with several years of experience under my belt, I have seen my fair share of market manipulations and shady practices within the industry. The recent price surge in Worldcoin (WLD) has raised my eyebrows due to its suspicious timing and potential insider activities.
The cryptocurrency Worldcoin (WLD) has experienced a notable price jump, soaring by 75% over the last five days and an impressive 38% rise within the past 24 hours. As per DeFi^2 (@DefiSquared), the premier trader on Bybit and one of the top ten wallet holders on DeBank, this price escalation isn’t solely driven by speculation but may hint at potential market manipulation coinciding with upcoming insider unlocks.
The Worldcoin Cash Grab
In a recent post on X, DeFi’s leading trader, DeFi^2, has raised questions about Worldcoin’s market activities before its scheduled insider token unlocks. With just 2.7% of WLD‘s total supply available, the smallest percentage among similar projects at the time of unlock, there are growing concerns over how Worldcoin has managed to achieve a massive $30 billion fully diluted valuation (FDV).
As someone who has closely followed the crypto market for years, I find DeFi^2’s recent statement about Worldcoin intriguing. According to their research piece, Worldcoin is set to start insider unlocks in just a week, which they claim will occur at one of the lowest floats in the industry’s history.
At its inception, Worldcoin introduced a circulating supply of 1.4%, equivalent to 140 million WLD tokens. Among these, market makers were allocated 100 million WLD tokens, which came with call options enabling them to repurchase a substantial quantity at a predetermined price above $2. This strategic move was designed to mitigate any abrupt price surges.
In an open conversation on “The Scoop Podcast,” Alex Blania, Worldcoin’s CEO, shared these strategies, emphasizing their importance in keeping the price in check and avoiding disruptions to the market. According to Blania, preventing the price from reaching $10 was essential to preserve our carefully planned market positioning.
As a crypto investor, I’ve been closely following the developments with Worldcoin (WLD). Up until December 16th, things were looking relatively stable for the project. However, unexpectedly, Worldcoin decided not to renew its market maker contract. This sudden move led to the removal of the call option and a subsequent decrease in WLD’s circulating supply by an extra 25 million tokens. In the wake of this news, the price of WLD more than doubled within hours – a scenario that Worldcoin had previously warned against.
At the Token2049 event in Dubai, Blania emphasized that Worldcoin does not interfere with market prices, explaining away price changes as a result of normal market dynamics. However, this stance clashes with the clear impact of the team’s tokenomic strategies and market maker agreements.
The value of DeFi^2 reaches eleven figures not just by chance, but rather as a result of the carefully planned token economics devised by the team. The market fluctuations on a daily basis have frequently been impacted by strategic announcements and policy modifications initiated by the team.
Market Manipulation
The Worldcoin system, created with the goal of distributing universal basic income (UBI), appears to disproportionately favor insiders over the intended beneficiaries. According to current estimates, approximately a billion tokens will be issued to team members and investors within the next year, while only around 600 million tokens are projected to reach UBI recipients during the same period.
Within the next year, the amount of Worldcoin (WLD) held by insiders is projected to comprise more than 60% of the total supply in circulation. This represents a significant proportion, implying that over half of the ecosystem caters primarily to Venture Capitalists (VCs), who may eventually offload their coins. This contrasts with the rationale behind keeping the float low currently to support Universal Basic Income (UBI) recipients.
Operators of Orb Orbs, responsible for gathering biometric information, have significantly contributed to the available supply of WLD tokens. Some reports suggest that these operators transfer as much as 20,000 WLD per week to trading platforms like Binance. This trend intensified when WLD’s price peaked at $12 in March, leading to frequent large-scale transfers of WLD to exchanges approximately every few days.
In Korea, where approximately a quarter of the total supply is held by individual investors, there is growing concern over their potential vulnerability. Many of these investors may not fully understand the complexities involved, as they hold tokens with an estimated total value of around $30 billion in Fair Market Value (FMV). This FMV has been sustained, in part, by strategically timed positive news announcements made just before the scheduled unlocks.
It’s unlikely a mere coincidence that Worldcoin chose to reveal favorable news just one week prior to unlocks. Although this news represents a minimal adjustment in terms of unlock selling pressure, its impact on retail investors has been significant thus far. Unwittingly, they have driven up prices and increased liquidity for insiders to cash out within the upcoming week. Furthermore, there’s a strong suspicion (but not yet proven) that someone from the team or VCs may have used insider information to prematurely purchase these assets before the news was made public.
“This article aims to reveal a project seemingly manipulating its price, which is expected to decrease based on the explained reasons. Consequently, I plan to sell WLD in the coming months after the unlocking period begins.”
At press time, WLD traded at $3.22.
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-07-17 18:41