Last week Bitcoin SV began to pump big time, pushing more than 50% during the height of the pump. Original speculation was that the pump was caused by Craig Wright announcing that he had received the final part of the Tulip Trust keys, verifying that he in fact was part of the original Satoshi Nakamoto team.
However, it now looks like it could in fact be wash trading. A popular crypto YouTuber dug into the facts and it very much looks as if the $490 peak price for BSV was in fact falsified by large volumes of wash trading.
Wash Trading is Still Rife
According to Nicholas Merten, only $35.6 million of volume was from US traders on exchanges. The other 99.4% of the trade volume came from unknown exchanges and exchanges that are known for wash trading. Despite recent regulatory crackdowns on the practice, wash trading is still rife in the crypto space, leading many to question the true price of cryptocurrency.
Ignore the price moves of $BSV. Only $35.6M of volume is from exchanges open to US traders. The other 99.4% of daily volume is made up of mainly no-name exchanges and known wash trading exchanges that still deceive this space. They can basically dictate a false price.
— Nicholas Merten (@Nicholas_Merten) January 14, 2020
Wright Still Hasn’t Cleared His Name
Despite it being accepted as the reason behind the recent pump, Craig Wright has still yet to clear his name in the Ira Kleiman case. Wright has claimed to have received the final keys for the Tulip Trust, but has not sent the ₿500 million to Ira Kleiman. According to a Florida judge, Wright could be in for a world of trouble if he fails to pay the sum of money he owes. If he fails to clear his name and pay off the court settlement, Wright could face additional charges such as contempt of court. If this happens, BSV will undoubtedly sink much lower.
Wright may have caused a temporary pump in BSV, but wash trading from exchanges looks like a key contributor to the high price of $490. We can expect BSV to fall back down to the $180 mark as the true value of the cryptocurrency comes out.
