Lbank cryptocurrency exchange accused of trying to sell fake Kodak coins
Fresh from accusations of wash trading, Lbank gets even more suspicious.
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Lbank has previously been accused of shady practices like using wash trading to fake the bulk of its volume. But its latest stunt might be even harder to explain.
On 4 May, it said it would be offering the KODAKCoin for sale, announcing that its ICO would run from 4 May to 11 May, at a cost of 1 Tether each, up to a hard cap of 8,000 ETH. Kodak has denied this, and said Lbank's listings are "neither authentic nor accurate."
The Lbank page has since been taken down, but it didn't leave much room for doubt while alive, splashing the Kodak logo and "KODAKOne" project name clearly across the page.
Even without Kodak's denial, it would be safe to assume that Lbank wouldn't be legitimately dealing Kodak ICO tokens. First, because the launch was paused for "several weeks" at the start of February and has yet to be resumed – apparently, they're fairly long weeks. And second, because the launch will be for accredited traders in the United States only.
A spokesperson for KODAK previously said they were aware that "fraudulent websites have been promising the sale of KODAKCoin."
The Kodak ICO is a questionable project in many ways, but this incident might have painted Lbank as an even more questionable exchange.
It's possible that there will be knock-on effects from this incident. At the time of writing, Lbank is showing as the world's seventh largest exchange by trade volume, and its numbers show especially brisk trade in VeChain and Bitcoin Cash. VET/BTC trades on Lbank supposedly account for over 60% of VeChain trade volume.
If Lbank isn't faking its trade volume, and if those are actual users, then VeChain prices and volume might experience a measurable downturn.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author holds ETH, IOTA, ICX, VET, XLM, BTC and NANO.
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