John Griffin, a professor at the University of Texas, and Amin Shams, an adjunct professor at Ohio State University, say in an update shared by Bloomberg of an article they first published in 2018 that a Bitfinex whale manipulated bitcoin price in 2017, when it jumped by 2,000%.
The document, which has been reviewed by several experts and will be published in an edition of the Journal of Finance, examines the transactions made with stablecoin Tether (USDT) and bitcoin between March 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. According to this, there were major purchases on the Bitfinex trading platform right when bitcoin price fell.
The authors of a study believe bitcoin price grew as a result of the actions of a single whale.
However, the exchange has refused these claims. In fact, Stuart Hoegner, the platform's lawyer, says the document has "fundamental flaws" because it is based on insufficient information and lacks "academic rigor."
Bitfinex and Tether said last month they knew a "non-revised" document suggesting that Tether emissions had been used to manipulate bitcoin price was being prepared.
Last month iHodl reported crypto traders had filed a $1.4T class action against Bitfinex and Tether.
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