Binance co-founder and DWF Labs speaks out against market manipulation allegations

Both firms deny any involvement in the allegations brought forth by The Wall Street Journal.

Amid new allegations of market manipulation brought by The Wall Street Journal, both Binance co-founder Yi He and props trading firm DWF Labs have denied any involvement. 

In an X post on May 9, He described the media report as an occurrence that “greatly increased our exposure and saved us a lot of marketing budget.” However, the co-founder denied any of the allegations against Binance, writing: 

“I have noticed an interesting phenomenon where some mainstream media articles are increasingly driven by emotions and biases rather than facts. For example, the complaints of former employees can become the basis of an article, while Binance’s proactive assistance to law enforcement agencies in investigating and apprehending the mastermind behind Zkasino (as a matter of fact) is not deemed worthy of reporting.”

In a similar post the same day, DWF Labs described the allegations as being “unfounded and distort the facts” and that the firm “operates with the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and ethics, and we remain committed to supporting you and our over 700 partners across the crypto ecosystem.” 

Earlier today, a Wall Street Journal report claimed that DWF Labs, one of Binance’s largest trading clients, allegedly engaged in market manipulation, wash trading, and inflated trading volumes amounting to $300 million through deals with crypto projects. After the exchange’s surveillance team recommended to offboard the client, Binance allegedly sided with DWF Labs and fired the investigator, arguing insufficient evidence for the claim. 

“We affirm our strict market surveillance program [and] We do not tolerate market abuse,” the exchange commented. “Over the last three years, we have offboarded nearly 355,000 users with a transaction volume of more than $2.5 trillion for violating our terms of use,” they added, continuing: “Market maker competition is fierce, and our investigation team’s job is to be neutral and look at the evidence without any bias, including bias that might come from market-making firms’ claims against their competitors.”

DWF Labs is a prominent trading firm in the crypto industry. Founded by Andrei Grachev in 2021, the firm has been investing in promising projects and providing long-term financial support on a regular basis. 

Related: Binance denies reports of DWF Labs market manipulation