The Relex project, which claims to be the world’s first real estate development cryptocurrency, has been labelled a scam by a Reddit user in a detailed post that accuses the Relex team of lying to investors, deflecting criticism and committing insider trading. In the critical post, which includes links to supposedly incriminating documents, the user, CrystalPinecone, is particularly critical of the former CMO, who he accuses of price manipulation and falsely influencing community sentiment.
Insider Trading and Manipulation
Relex was launched in July 2018 and aimed to give RLX token holders the opportunity to invest in real estate projects at the development stage, with the resultant income from sales or rental of the properties. CrystalPinecone suggests that a member of the team, JT, was involved in insider trading almost as soon as the project hit exchanges, allegedly suppressing the price through the end of July into August before using his position to help raise the price, selling as it increased.
CrystalPinecone provides a link to Telegram discussions on the matter, which show JT discussing price action with investors, followed by a number of his transactions. These transactions illustrate buying and selling patterns based around events, such as exchange listings that CrystalPinecone says JT would have helped arrange. Another cache shows JT using multiple accounts to shift the narrative of the project with the aim of, allegedly, manipulating investors’ buy/sell behavior.
When is an Airdrop not an Airdrop?
According to CrystalPinecone, the manipulation issue was investigated and led to JT stepping down in December 2018, where it was stated that he would give up half his token holdings as an airdrop for investors. This benevolent act was tarred when, unusually, KYC measures were put in place for the airdrop and the amount was limited to 5% of each user’s holdings. This, claims CrystalPinecone, was simply a way of ensuring that investors would refrain from signing up and JT would keep as many tokens as possible. The fate of JT’s tokens are apparently still unknown. Finally, CrystalPinecone claims that JT was absent from the company for only a month after stepping down before being re-hired.
Community Backs Author
While it remains unclear exactly how many of CrystalPinecone’s claims can be validated, the overall picture, backed up by the evidence offered, is one of a lack of transparency from the Relex team in their investigation of the former CMO. This is on top of a denial of his actions which he eventually admitted to in stepping down. Replies to the piece seem to support the theory that the project is, at the very least, not acting properly, with others substantiating CrystalPinecone’s claims and adding in their own negative dealings with the team. Relex have yet to respond to the accusations.
