• An update of a University of Texas study assures that the prices of Bitcoin and others would have been manipulated in 2017.
  • A whale would have used the stablecoin Tether, to change the course of the market. The consequence: Bitcoins price rose to 20.000 USD.

 

New evidence has been found on the influence that a whale may have had on the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP in 2017. The movements of the whale would have caused the creation of the bullish trend that would lead Bitcoin to reach its historical maximum of 20,000 USD.

Bitcoin price manipulation study update

Behind the study is University of Texas Professor John Griffin and Ohio University Professor Amin Shams. Academics have updated their study with new data. Reaffirming their theory that manipulation is caused by a single whale.

The academics’ argument goes further. It states that the entity behind the manipulation would expect the market to reach certain levels to carry out the transactions. According to the authors of the study, suspicious movements are only made in cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

Although the cryptoexchange, Bitfinex, has been the subject of lawsuits and controversies, the study seems to give this supposed Whale the power to change the cryptomarket trend at will. In addition, the ability to influence the price of more than one cryptocurrency. In the case of 2017, Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP.

The motives behind the manipulation seem to be to take advantage of prices by the exchange. The study states that the main tool of this whale, would be the use of the Stable Coin Tether. According to Bloomberg,

Our results suggest that instead of thousands of investors moving the Bitcoin price, it just a big one.

Conspiracies around Bitcoin

As has been said, the case concerning the manipulation of Bitcoin’s prices is controversial and recurrent. The king of cryptocurrencies is no stranger to the fabrication of theories and conspiracies that attempt to explain his tendencies, upward or downward. It has happened when bulls or bears strike. The usual suspect in these conspiracies: Tether.

The stable coin has been used, on several occasions, to try to sustain a manipulation in the price of Bitcoin. Tether has made public his arguments against this kind of study. Attributing its results to insufficient or inaccurate data. His motivation, according to Tether, would be to fabricate an unsubstantiated basis for making lawsuits.

In the cryptocommunity, the debate has been heated. Several experts have come out to give their opinion on the study. For the most part, they rejected the study. It is accused of being another conspiracy that ignores the growth of Bitcoin and altcoins in recent years. A subject that CNF has followed closely, reporting how there seems to be a return of the bull market.