Quite a lot of analysts have advised the meteoric value efficiency of the Compound Governance Token (COMP) could have been orchestrated utilizing d
Quite a lot of analysts have advised the meteoric value efficiency of the Compound Governance Token (COMP) could have been orchestrated utilizing derivatives.
After initially altering arms for about $80 every upon its June 18 itemizing on Poloniex, COMP rapidly rallied 500% to publish highs above $380 June 21 as information of a Coinbase itemizing appeared to entice patrons.
COMP/USDT on Poloniex, 1hr chart: TradingView
For the reason that excessive, COMP has shed 34% of its worth and is at the moment buying and selling for $253.
Was COMP’s rally pushed by natural demand?
In a June 25 article, impartial crypto blogger and Decentraland product lead Tony Sheng famous that many merchants over the previous week or so believed that triple-figure priced COMP was extraordinarily overvalued, leading to bears paying from 5% to 10% in every day charges to brief the asset utilizing derivatives.
Regardless of this bearish sentiment and the truth that COMP tokens could be earned by means of yield farming, COMP costs continued to rally aggressively, with Sheng suggesting that disproportionate quantity on FTX’s derivatives largely fuelled the rally.
Whereas spot listings on FTX and Poloniex generated $1.5 million in 24-hour quantity main as much as COMP’s Coinbase itemizing, greater than $6 million price of perpetual swap contracts had been traded on FTX over the identical interval.
With COMP comprising a extremely illiquid market upon launch, the article means that merchants could have been capable of drive up spot costs with comparatively small purchase orders to make sure earnings on a lot bigger lengthy positions taken utilizing FTX’s contracts:
“The lengthy and wanting it (haha) is that due to the comparatively giant measurement of the COMP Perpetual Swap market, it will be worthwhile to purchase the Perp after which purchase spot in vital sufficient measurement to maneuver the worth, amplifying positive aspects within the Perp and squeezing the shorts.”
On June 24, the founding father of crypto asset supervisor Carbono, Raul Marcos, tweeted:
“Buying and selling $COMP futures proper now could be a masterclass on market manipulation.”
Derivatives incentivize manipulating illiquid markets
Whereas Sheng notes that “it’s not even clear whether or not anyone truly manipulated the market,” he asserts that COMP’s value motion gives “a really clear warning of what’s to return if groups proceed to launch tokens ‘Compound type’ with an illiquid AMM itemizing […] mixed with yield farming.”
“Then different groups have an incentive to launch derivatives merchandise to seize a few of that focus,” he added.
.Balancer has simply launched its governance token BAL, which adopted the mannequin utilized by COMP and has seen equally violent value motion pushed by each bullish and bearish momentum.
Centralized governance?
Compound has additionally come below hearth for the extremely centralized present distribution of its governance tokens, which closely favors the challenge’s founders and the enterprise capital corporations that invested in Compound’s $25 million Collection A in November 2019.
The votes of simply three entities — Polychain Capital, A16Z , and Compound CEO Robert Leshner — are equal to roughly 130% of the mixed votes of all different COMP holders.