A report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) disclosed that Twitter bots artificially bolstered the prices of five Alameda Research-linked tokens shortly after they were listed on FTX.
A recent report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), an organization that investigates cybersecurity and social media threats, revealed that Twitter bots inflated the prices of five FTX-listed tokens traded by Alameda Research insiders. The tokens include BOBA, GALA, IMX, RNDR, and SPELL, each experiencing up to a 30% surge in fake tweets after being listed on FTX.
According to the NCRI report, "inauthentic chatter" from bot accounts on Twitter (now X) heavily influenced the token prices, reaching a point where nearly half of all posts about these tokens could be traced back to bot-like activities. The report suggests that these activities may be part of a coordinated effort aimed at manipulating market sentiment and trading behavior.
Alameda Research held positions in at least five of these tokens before the FTX listing. Compliance firm Argus previously reported that Alameda employees utilized insider information to gain $60 million from tokens like IMX, which was mentioned in the NCRI report.
In late 2022, CoinDesk also reported on the tight relationship between Alameda Research and its sister company, FTX. Later reports revealed that Alameda executives were involved in FTX's alleged misappropriation of user funds.
RNDR, one of the tokens held by Alameda, surged between 11% to 30% within 24 hours on four separate occasions from 2022 to 2023, according to the NCRI data.
The NCRI report examined over 3 million tweets that mentioned any of the 18 tokens publicly listed on FTX and promoted by its official Twitter account between January 1, 2019, and January 27, 2023.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, is currently facing federal securities and wire fraud charges, with a trial scheduled for October. He also faces a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). FTX and Bankman-Fried's legal teams have not yet commented on these allegations.
