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Crypto Wash Trading

arxiv.org

51–60 of 306 posts

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#51
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We quantify the wash trading on each unregulated exchange , which averaged over 70% of the reported volume. Coinbase isn’t one of the unregulated exchanges.

Too bad neither the title of this HN submission nor the title of the paper says "Crypto Wash Trading on unregulated exchanges", but I guess that wouldn't write as many headlines.

It’s right there in the abstract.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#52
post #24

This is why Uniswap's data is much more valuable than centralized exchanges. On-chain trading permits a degree of transparency and trustworthiness not readily feasible with centralized exchanges. Centralized exchanges are incentivized to doctor their data and lie about their volumes. The larger the volumes an exchange publishes, even if fake or gamed, the more relevant an exchange appears. Users must blindly trust wh…

I'm generally pro-cryptocurrencies, but Uniswap definitly makes it harder to see wash trading, not easier. One wallet !== one person, while the regulated, centralized exchanges normally require you to answer bunch of questions and prove your identity because of KYC/AML laws, to guarantee that each participant is just that, one participant.

Yeah, the ability to generate identities on the fly and interact with the financial system immediately is one thing that would give financial regulators a heart attack.

I wonder if it's actually (free identities) XOR (no wash trading), or if the crypto people will come up with some clever way to account for it or disincentivize it.

One thing I've learned is not to count out very resourceful people with skin in the game. Crypto has come up with some really interesting incentive games that I certainly wouldn't have thought of off the top of my head. That being said, this seems like a really hard thing to fix.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#53
post #17

So this implies that the crypto markets are actually far less liquid than the trade volume implies. Suddenly those massive 10% +/- fluctuations in a day make a lot more sense.

It's not just that, though. The markets aren't particularly liquid, and there isn't much rational basis for any particular price, and a lot of the real trades are being performed by irrational day-traders or poorly designed algorithmic traders.

It's all of these elements together that add up to the ridiculous volatility you see in these markets.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#54
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a way to fraudulently pump the price (or lower the price) of a security. One person with two accounts can keep trading back and forth with themselves, and since crypto exchange know-your-customer measures are trivial or nonexistent, it's very easy to get away with.

There is still an order book so to get the price to rise or fall, the trader would have to buy or sell enough to clear the book. How does trading back and forth with themselves do anything other than generate fees for the exchange?

The book is tiny and the exchange is probably the one doing the wash trading.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#55
post #40

I'm not surprised at all Many actors (including core devs) in the Ethereum (and other crypto) ecosphere see front running (known as MEV) and the payment for protection thereof (known as flashbots) as a "feature" so it's no wonder that other "creative trading techniques" run rampant. It seems like the reason for every financial regulation in traditional banking is rediscovered in the crypto space just much faster.

What do you mean by "as a feature"? Devs agree that MEV is a problem (a very hard one), and are trying to solve it.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#56
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a way to fraudulently pump the price (or lower the price) of a security. One person with two accounts can keep trading back and forth with themselves, and since crypto exchange know-your-customer measures are trivial or nonexistent, it's very easy to get away with.

There is still an order book so to get the price to rise or fall, the trader would have to buy or sell enough to clear the book. How does trading back and forth with themselves do anything other than generate fees for the exchange?

The more money you have, the lower the fees. No fees for being a Maker.

You can actually pay nothing on FTX. Only a .025 taker fee + 60% discount for holding FTX coin plus a .01 rebate for being a market maker.

Most of wash trading is probably done by connected individuals though. Whole point of being unregulated. Just be friends with CZ or SBF.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#57

I recently had to go through extensive KYC/AML email conversations and phone calls with bunch of exchanges like Coinbase and others. Got me interested how wash trading could happen, when they were so strict with me, and which exchanges were investigated. These seems to be the exchanges they investigated. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of percentage per exchange, as I still don't understand how wash trading c…

How does Coinbase self-regulate wash trading?

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#58

I recently had to go through extensive KYC/AML email conversations and phone calls with bunch of exchanges like Coinbase and others. Got me interested how wash trading could happen, when they were so strict with me, and which exchanges were investigated. These seems to be the exchanges they investigated. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of percentage per exchange, as I still don't understand how wash trading c…

What's a "regulated" exchange in this context? US Exchanges are "self-regulated" and ultimately answer to FINRA and the SEC. Any rules they publish must be approved by the SEC.

Theres no such process (AFAIK) with "panel A" firms. Its still the wild west.

Does regulation mean KYC for client onboarding? Thats a completely different thing. We're not talking about on-exchange trading rules and compliance monitoring in that case.

Re: Crypto Wash Trading

#59

I recently had to go through extensive KYC/AML email conversations and phone calls with bunch of exchanges like Coinbase and others. Got me interested how wash trading could happen, when they were so strict with me, and which exchanges were investigated. These seems to be the exchanges they investigated. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of percentage per exchange, as I still don't understand how wash trading c…

Breakdown of percentage per exchange is available on table 7 (pp 46).

Binance, for example, is measured at 46%. Typically the lower tier exchanges have higher levels of measured wash trading.

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