Pump and Dump? $68M in TRB Liquidated as Price Crashes

In a dramatic twist, the price of TRB soared from $200 to over $600 and then fell sharply to $137 in hours leading up to press time.

$68M in TRB Liquidated

According to Lookonchain, the crash led to $68 million of TRB being liquidated, making it the token with the largest liquidation amount in the past 12 hours and 24 hours. 

In the past 24 hours, $TRB soared to $600 and then plummeted to $137, causing $68M of assets to be liquidated, making it the most liquidated token.

We noticed that the #Tellor team deposited 4,211 $TRB($2.4M) after the price of $TRB skyrocketed.

Address:https://t.co/efHPXCiMiG pic.twitter.com/IBty2Wf2gI

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 1, 2024

TRB or Tributes, is the native token of Tellor, a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts on Ethereum to external data. TRB funds contracts that provide payment to data reporters, thereby eliminating the need for off-chain payment agreements. 

Notably, Lookonchain pointed to suspicious activity from the Tellor team shortly after TRB skyrocketed to $600. The blockchain analytics platform revealed that Tellor deposited 4,211 TRB ($2.4 million) to Coinbase after the peak, translating to a potential sell-off and catalyst for the downward spiral.

A Pump and Dump?

The move by the team triggered a wave of reaction from the crypto community on X, with many describing it as a pump-and-dump scheme.

One community member commented:

“TRB is a scam! a manipulators’ favourite coin, they pumped it to ATH using rigged funding and dumped on retail.”

$trb #trb is a scam! a manipulators' favourite coin, they pumped it to ATH using rigged funding and dumped on retail.

We made so much money in the last two trades (still running, that's a different story)

Stay away from it, if you are new to crypto and still learning risk… https://t.co/lutXelJV9G

— Prof.Noan.Ai 𓃵 (@CryptoNoan) January 1, 2024

With no noticeable catalyst driving its price, TRB has experienced a massive bull run towards the end of 2023. A few months before the new year, the token surged approximately 2000%.

TRB trades at $190 at press time, representing a 30.84% decline in the last 24 hours and a 4.30% drop in the past seven days. The current price represents a nearly 70% drop from its all-time high (ATH) of $600, achieved on December 31, 2023.