TL;DR
- ZachXBT revealed that Murad used 11 wallets to hide $24 million worth of meme coins while promoting his analysis.
- Murad’s SPX token purchases increased 61x on the back of his positive predictions.
- The meme coin community is divided on whether these actions are ethically questionable.
Renowned cryptocurrency researcher ZachXBT has recently exposed the activities of meme coin analyst and trader Murad, who allegedly manages at least 11 different wallets to hide his personal holdings.
These wallets, which contain around $24 million worth of meme coins on the Ethereum and Solana networks, have been used by Murad to conceal his investments while performing positive analysis on these same tokens.
2/2 Why do I say these 11 wallets belong to Murad.
1) All wallets were funded from the same source on Ethereum
0x93f019699ef400df7dc3477dbb6400ed9445a657
2) Funding source is also directly tied to STFX team address / multisig signer
3) Holdings are similar to his posts
EX:… pic.twitter.com/z3bmQWS4Hw
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 9, 2024
According to the findings, these strategies would have allowed him to make significant profits by increasing the value of his own assets.
ZachXBT discovered that all wallets were funded from a single source on Ethereum, linked directly to an STFX team address and a multisig signer.
This connection suggests that Murad’s actions were carefully orchestrated to maximize his own profit while influencing the market through his publications.
For example, one of the wallets was identified as having purchased 7.5 million MINI tokens just an hour before Murad included this token in his recommendation list on July 16, 2024.
Despite the accusations, some members of the meme coin community defended Murad’s actions, arguing that it is not necessarily unethical to publicly discuss personal investments.
However, ZachXBT insists that followers should be aware of the hidden strategies behind these recommendations in order to make informed decisions.
Community reactions to ZachXBT accusations
The debate has intensified in the cryptocurrency community, with opinions divided on the ethics of promoting personal investments while manipulating supply.
Some of Murad‘s defenders argue that in a market as volatile as meme coins, it is common for traders to discuss their own holdings and make predictions about their performance.
According to them, as long as there is no evidence of a paid marketing campaign, these actions should not be condemned.
However, others argue that the problem lies in a lack of transparency.
If an analyst hides their financial involvement while influencing prices, this could be seen as a form of market manipulation. ZachXBT has emphasized that the public deserves to know about Murad’s portfolios so they can assess the credibility of his recommendations.
Furthermore, the repeated use of tools like deBridge to move funds between the Ethereum and Solana networks has raised suspicions about the possible existence of more, as yet undiscovered wallets. This tactic, according to ZachXBT, is a sign that Murad could be hiding other investments that have not come to light.
While Murad‘s case is not the first scandal in the cryptocurrency world, it highlights the need for greater transparency and oversight into the activities of token analysts.
With the cryptocurrency market becoming more integrated into the traditional financial sphere, it is likely that these types of transactions will become increasingly difficult to hide in the future.
