IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2102.07001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Detecting and Quantifying Wash Trading on Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Author

Listed:
  • Friedhelm Victor
  • Andrea Marie Weintraud

Abstract

Cryptoassets such as cryptocurrencies and tokens are increasingly traded on decentralized exchanges. The advantage for users is that the funds are not in custody of a centralized external entity. However, these exchanges are prone to manipulative behavior. In this paper, we illustrate how wash trading activity can be identified on two of the first popular limit order book-based decentralized exchanges on the Ethereum blockchain, IDEX and EtherDelta. We identify a lower bound of accounts and trading structures that meet the legal definitions of wash trading, discovering that they are responsible for a wash trading volume in equivalent of 159 million U.S. Dollars. While self-trades and two-account structures are predominant, complex forms also occur. We quantify these activities, finding that on both exchanges, more than 30\% of all traded tokens have been subject to wash trading activity. On EtherDelta, 10% of the tokens have almost exclusively been wash traded. All data is made available for future research. Our findings underpin the need for countermeasures that are applicable in decentralized systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedhelm Victor & Andrea Marie Weintraud, 2021. "Detecting and Quantifying Wash Trading on Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchanges," Papers 2102.07001, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2102.07001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.07001
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weili Chen & Jun Wu & Zibin Zheng & Chuan Chen & Yuren Zhou, 2019. "Market Manipulation of Bitcoin: Evidence from Mining the Mt. Gox Transaction Network," Papers 1902.01941, arXiv.org.
    2. John M. Griffin & Amin Shams, 2020. "Is Bitcoin Really Untethered?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1913-1964, August.
    3. Junjie Wang & Shuigeng Zhou & Jihong Guan, 2011. "Detecting Collusive Cliques in Futures Markets Based on Trading Behaviors from Real Data," Papers 1110.1522, arXiv.org.
    4. Jiahua Xu & Benjamin Livshits, 2018. "The Anatomy of a Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Scheme," Papers 1811.10109, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2019.
    5. Gandal, Neil & Hamrick, JT & Moore, Tyler & Oberman, Tali, 2018. "Price manipulation in the Bitcoin ecosystem," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 86-96.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Derek Liu & Francesco Piccoli & Katie Chen & Adrina Tang & Victor Fang, 2023. "NFT Wash Trading Detection," Papers 2305.01543, arXiv.org.
    2. Peter Fratrič & Giovanni Sileno & Sander Klous & Tom Engers, 2022. "Manipulation of the Bitcoin market: an agent-based study," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Dean Fantazzini & Raffaella Calabrese, 2021. "Crypto Exchanges and Credit Risk: Modeling and Forecasting the Probability of Closure," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Andrea Barbon & Angelo Ranaldo, 2023. "NFT Bubbles," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 23-20, Swiss Finance Institute.
    5. Vincent Gramlich & Tobias Guggenberger & Marc Principato & Benjamin Schellinger & Nils Urbach, 2023. "A multivocal literature review of decentralized finance: Current knowledge and future research avenues," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-37, December.
    6. Mohammad Javad Rajaei & Qusay H. Mahmoud, 2023. "A Survey on Pump and Dump Detection in the Cryptocurrency Market Using Machine Learning," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, August.
    7. Weber, Daniel, 2022. "Exploring markets: Non-Fungible Token," IU Discussion Papers - Business & Management 2 (April 2022), IU International University of Applied Sciences.
    8. Mingxiao Song & Yunsong Liu & Agam Shah & Sudheer Chava, 2023. "Abnormal Trading Detection in the NFT Market," Papers 2306.04643, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    9. Chen, Jialan & Lin, Dan & Wu, Jiajing, 2022. "Do cryptocurrency exchanges fake trading volumes? An empirical analysis of wash trading based on data mining," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 586(C).
    10. Kaihua Qin & Liyi Zhou & Yaroslav Afonin & Ludovico Lazzaretti & Arthur Gervais, 2021. "CeFi vs. DeFi -- Comparing Centralized to Decentralized Finance," Papers 2106.08157, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saggese, Pietro & Belmonte, Alessandro & Dimitri, Nicola & Facchini, Angelo & Böhme, Rainer, 2023. "Arbitrageurs in the Bitcoin ecosystem: Evidence from user-level trading patterns in the Mt. Gox exchange platform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 251-270.
    2. Anirudh Dhawan & Tālis J Putniņš, 2023. "A New Wolf in Town? Pump-and-Dump Manipulation in Cryptocurrency Markets," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 935-975.
    3. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    4. Tsang, Kwok Ping & Yang, Zichao, 2022. "Do connections pay off in the bitcoin market?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-18.
    5. Gandal, Neil & Hamrick, JT & Rouhi, Farhang & Mukherjee, Arghya & Feder, Amir & Moore, Tyler & Vasek, Marie, 2018. "The Economics of Cryptocurrency Pump and Dump Schemes," CEPR Discussion Papers 13404, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Anil Donmez & Alexander Karaivanov, 2022. "Transaction fee economics in the Ethereum blockchain," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 265-292, January.
    7. Karl Oton Rudolf & Samer Ajour El Zein & Nicola Jackman Lansdowne, 2021. "Bitcoin as an Investment and Hedge Alternative. A DCC MGARCH Model Analysis," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-22, August.
    8. Arkorful, Gideon Bruce & Chen, Haiqiang & Gu, Ming & Liu, Xiaoqun, 2023. "What can we learn from the convenience yield of Bitcoin? Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 141-153.
    9. Costantini, Mauro & Maaitah, Ahmad & Mishra, Tapas & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2023. "Bitcoin market networks and cyberattacks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 630(C).
    10. Alexander, Carol & Deng, Jun & Feng, Jianfen & Wan, Huning, 2023. "Net buying pressure and the information in bitcoin option trades," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Jinsha Zhao, 2022. "Do economic crises cause trading in Bitcoin?," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(4), pages 465-490, April.
    12. Ngene, Geoffrey M. & Wang, Jinghua, 2024. "Arbitrage opportunities and feedback trading in regulated bitcoin futures market: An intraday analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 743-761.
    13. Peng‐Fei Dai & John W. Goodell & Luu Duc Toan Huynh & Zhifeng Liu & Shaen Corbet, 2023. "Understanding the transmission of crash risk between cryptocurrency and equity markets," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 539-573, August.
    14. Andreas Hackethal & Tobin Hanspal & Dominique M Lammer & Kevin Rink, 2022. "The Characteristics and Portfolio Behavior of Bitcoin Investors: Evidence from Indirect Cryptocurrency Investments [The investor in structured retail products: advice driven or gambling oriented]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 855-898.
    15. de Andrés, Pablo & Arroyo, David & Correia, Ricardo & Rezola, Alvaro, 2022. "Challenges of the market for initial coin offerings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Nikolaus Hautsch & Christoph Scheu & Stefan Voigt, 2024. "Building trust takes time: limits to arbitrage for blockchain-based assets," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 1345-1381.
    17. Taro Tsuchiya, 2021. "Profitability of cryptocurrency Pump and Dump schemes," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 149-167, June.
    18. Foley, Sean & Frijns, Bart & Garel, Alexandre & Roh, Tai-Yong, 2022. "Who buys Bitcoin? The cultural determinants of Bitcoin activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Catania, Leopoldo & Grassi, Stefano, 2022. "Forecasting cryptocurrency volatility," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 878-894.
    20. Matteo Benetton & Giovanni Compiani, 2024. "Investors’ Beliefs and Cryptocurrency Prices," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 197-236.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2102.07001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.