OKX’s blog post stated, “OKX will deduct the entire balance of 2,014,381 USDT in the 5 market manipulation accounts. In addition, OKX will also donate 1 million USDT from its own funds. A total of 3,014,381 USDT will be used to airdrop the damaged users in this incident.”
Crypto exchange OKX has seized 2M Tether (USDT) tokens from five suspicious accounts that allegedly manipulated the price of Celestial tokens (CELT).
In its blog post, OKX claimed that Celestial developers illegally promoted their new game, 'OK Pro Son,' under its brand name. OKX stated that although its venture arm had invested in the project in 2021, the exchange has no relationship with the project.
OKX alleged that using its name to promote the project caused the value of CELT to double within two days. However, the token’s price soon plummeted by 54%.
Subsequently, OKX launched an investigation to determine whether the market manipulation was caused by the exchange’s staff, with OKX adding,
“During the investigation, no evidence of internal staff involvement in the incident was found. If any OKX internal staff is involved in this incident, once verified, it will be dealt with seriously.”
The investigation resulted in the exchange freezing 5 suspicious accounts that held 714K USDT. OKX announced that Celestial developers have agreed to return 1.3M USDT tokens.
The exchange will also donate 1M USDT from its own assets to users affected by the incident. Users who bought CELT between February 25 and 28 will be eligible to receive the airdrop. OKX plans to reveal the rules of the airdrop within 48 hours.
Written by
Ayush Pande
Ayush Pande is a hardware, gaming, and crypto writer based in India. He's a tech enthusiast who's fascinated by the potential of blockchain technology.
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