There’s far more manipulation in traditional currency and stock markets than there is in the cryptocurrency space, according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
His recent comments appear to be in response to statements by New York State’s Attorney General Barbara Underwood that cryptocurrency exchanges are susceptible to market manipulation. She directly pointed her finger at Binance, Kraken and Gate.io, whom she said could be facilitating operations that would be classified as illegal in her state.
Changpeng explains that traditional markets have many public investment tools that are only traded in a single place. He adds that there are significant market players who maintain close ties with media and insiders, creating a space ripe for manipulation.
“There is more manipulation in traditional markets, where most instruments only trade on one market, with big market makers, who have close ties with insiders and media,” he says in a tweet.
He goes on to say that cryptocurrencies are traded across multiple markets, making them more difficult to manipulate.
Underwood vs Coinbase
Underwood also mentioned Coinbase in her report saying the crypto exchange reportedly trades billions of dollars for itself, which is wrong because the firm has failed to communicate this fact.
In a blog, Coinbase said that while it welcomed the attorney general’s report, it was uncomfortable with the part that touched on proprietary trading. “Coinbase disclosed that almost 20% of executed volume on its platform was attributable to its own trading,” Underwood says in the report.
Coinbase replied, “it does not trade for the benefit of the company on a proprietary basis. In order to provide an easy-to-use customer experience, Coinbase Consumer quotes a price and then quickly fills the order from our exchange platform (Coinbase Markets). This takes advantage of the liquidity provided by the entire Coinbase ecosystem. Coinbase does not operate a proprietary trading desk, nor does it undertake market making actions.”
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