Through forensic investigation led by Integra President Dr. John Griffin, we identify potential connected associates engaging in an observed scheme involving EOS to create the largest ICO in history. Their activity is conducted by similarly behaving suspicious accounts on the Ethereum blockchain that repeatedly sent Ether from exchanges to buy EOS at the crowdsale wallet, and then quickly returned EOS to the same exchanges. These suspicious accounts accounted for almost a quarter of EOS purchases by the end of the crowdsale. A strategy of quickly buying then selling EOS was generally not profitable during the crowdsale period, which indicates that these suspicious accounts were not operating independently. Also, the recycling of Ether into EOS and EOS back to the exchanges and to Ether, is shown to be unlike any other activity by other traders in the EOS crowdsale. In addition, the accounts appear almost solely created for this purpose, unlike other accounts that are widely used for other purposes.

 

The seemingly artificial demand from the suspicious accounts had two effects. First, it directly manipulated EOS’s offering price upward through the extra buying and inflated the market value of the token. Second, it created the false impression of value of the token which enticed others to want to purchase the ICO token.

 

To learn more details about our analysis, please visit this link to download the report.