Worldcoin is under fire from crypto experts who accuse the project and its supporters of price manipulation. Some even label it the “biggest scam token of the bull run.”
Investigator ZachXBT has pointed fingers at venture capitalists (VCs) and team members, including Coinbase executive Nick Tomaino, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and 3AC, calling them enablers of fraud.
Insider trading
ZachXBT’s claims are backed by trader DefiSquared, who reveals insider trading and deceptive tokenomics in Worldcoin’s ecosystem.
According to their post, the Worldcoin team is controlling the WLD price to keep a $30 billion valuation while denying involvement.
DefiSquared notes that the team allocated most of the token supply to market makers to prevent price spikes. Later, they allowed prices to surge, leading to a 100% rally in a few hours.
DefiSquared’s research also describe questionable market strategies used by Worldcoin. It mentions that Tools of Humanity CEO Alex Bania denied any control over the WLD price at the Token2049 event in Dubai.
Orb Operators were found to be collecting biometric data and sending large amounts of WLD tokens to exchanges like Binance.
In one case, the WLD price spiked above $12, with an operator moving about $150,000 worth of WLD to Binance every three days. This is very suspicious and is seen as insider trading by DefiSquared.
The world is mine
The investigators also criticizes Worldcoin’s token unlock strategy, calling it a calculated move to attract retail investors.
DefiSquared suggests that Worldcoin released positive news just a week before token unlocks to artificially boost prices and liquidity for insiders, so they could bag bigger profits.
The analyst hints that someone from the team or VCs may have used insider information to buy tokens before the news was announced. This wouldn’t be unprecedented in the crypto industry.
Roundabout ways
In May, DefiSquared described Worldcoin as the biggest wealth transfer of this cycle, citing predatory tokenomics.
The trader highlighted that $200 million worth of tokens from the “Community” allocation were being sold to benefit the foundation.
Since its inception, Worldcoin was surrounded by controversy despite its commitment to addressing major AI issues.
Critics argue that the project failed to operate transparently and ethically, leading to ongoing scrutiny from the crypto community.
