Russia-based cryptocurrency exchange YoBit is going to perform a pump scheme on random coins, according to an October 10 tweet. A pump and dump scheme is a form of fraud that attempts to artificially boost the price of an asset through misleading or false recommendations.
In addition to announcing the pump scheme in a tweet, the exchange posted a countdown clock for a ‘YoBit pump’ on its website: https://yobit.net/en/pump/timer/.
The community reacted quickly, with some users asking whether YoBit’s Twitter account had been hacked, and others accusing the company of fraudulent activity.
Founded in 2015, YoBit was in the headlines a number of times in multiple reports of suspicious activity and problems with users trying to withdraw funds from their wallets.
In November 2017, a Business Insider investigation revealed that traders were conducting pump and dumps on YoBit via the messaging app Telegram. However, it remained unclear whether the exchange was aware of the pump and dump activity, as Yobit reportedly did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
