Cryptocurrencies

Coinbase Insider Trading May Be Wider Than US Case: Study

  • Some traders seemed to buy tokens ahead of their listings
  • A former Coinbase employee was charged with insider trading

A monitor displays Coinbase signage in New York.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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The US charge against a former Coinbase Global Inc. employee may not be the only instance of insider trading at the cryptocurrency exchange, according to a new study.

Some traders appear to have snapped up tokens ahead of 10% to 25% -- or 15 to 37 -- of Coinbase listings since 2018, wrote three academics at the University of Technology Sydney. Federal prosecutors had indicted a former Coinbase worker last month for profiting from at least 14 announcements, in a sign of growing regulatory zeal in the asset class.