In 2022, nearly 10,000 tokens were created on BNB Chain and Ethereum and used for Pump and Dump schemes. Investors spent $4.6 billion to buy such “assets.”
The Chainalysis analysis of all tokens launched on Ethereum and BNB Chain in 2022 showed that about 4% of them were dubious, including those involved in Pump and Dump schemes.
A total of 1,105,239 tokens were released in 2022. Chainalysis analysts categorized tokens that were potentially used in Pump and Dump schemes based on trading activity during the week following their release. The analysts identified 40,521 dubious tokens, which is about 4% of all tokens launched in 2022. The price of 9,902 of them fell by over 90% in the first week of trading. The dynamics indicate that 24% of dubious tokens were used to conduct Pump and Dump schemes. Chainalysis estimates that investors spent $4.6 billion to buy such cryptocurrencies.
According to Chainalysis, scammers earned about $30 million from Pump and Dump schemes in 2022. Analysts identified 445 groups or individuals who created fraudulent assets of this kind last year. And the data shows that the creators of such tokens often launched several projects at once. The most “prolific scammer” managed to create 264 projects for Pump and Dump schemes during the year.
In 2022, almost 118,000 scam tokens were created, 12% of which had the BEP-20 standard, while another 8% had the ERC-20 standard. Attackers actively used YouTube channels and Twitter bots to promote fraudulent schemes.
