Binance Accused of Insider Trading After Listing the “Wrong” Memecoin

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is under scrutiny after listing a memecoin with a microcap valuation of just $15 million.

Binance regularly lists memecoins, but the token in question, “the first NEIRO on Ethereum,” is a variation of NEIRO on ETH, which boasted a market capitalization of $120 million prior to the day’s events.

Adding to the confusion, Binance has the NEIRO on ETH token listed on its perpetual exchange but “the first NEIRO on Ethereum” token on its spot exchange.

After the listing, the $15 million market cap NEIRO soared over 1000% to $178 million, while the larger token fell 37% to $79 million from $125 million, leaving holders furious.

NEIRO is a memecoin named after Atsuko Sato’s new puppy, Neiro. Sato is renowned as the owner of the late Kabosu, the famous dog that inspired Dogecoin.

While Sato reiterated that there is no “official” NEIRO token, traders went to battle onchain to decide which NEIRO token would become the ‘official unofficial’ NEIRO token, usually decided by the token with the highest valuation.

Controversial Journey

As the unofficial successor to Dogecoin, the launch of NEIRO was plagued with competition and controversy as the first two iterations of the coin launched on Solana.

At the time, a market leader had emerged and reached a market cap of nearly $80 million until crypto influencer Ansem, in a move similar to Binance, endorsed a microcap version of NEIRO on SOL as opposed to the market leader. The microcap NEIRO on SOL proceeded to surge ten-fold while the $80 million token plummeted.

Ultimately, both Solana iterations of the token fell into irrelevance as NEIRO on ETH took over and reached an all-time high of $280 million.

Despite NEIRO on ETH surpassing a quarter-billion-dollar valuation at one point, Binance chose to list “the first NEIRO on Ethereum,” leading to accusations of insider trading and corruption. The founder of Singapore-based fund Block Infinity even threatened to dox Binance insiders over the matter.

Leonidas, the founder of Ord.io, said, “Their listing team is abusing the power that retail has given them. Listing a $15M market cap corporate memecoin is a slap in the face to every organic memecoin community.”

While NEIRO on ETH was the clear market leader in terms of price, its origin story also remains murky. Many on crypto Twitter claim that NEIRO on ETH is led by a “cabal” of insiders, bad actors, and “key opinion leaders” (KOLs).