Gibraltar introduces regulations to tackle crypto market manipulation

Gibraltar has unveiled new regulations to curb insider trading and market manipulation in the crypto industry. The British overseas territory published an amendment to the current laws earlier today and issued a guidance note to crypto companies operating within its jurisdiction.

Per the guidance note, Gibraltar requires crypto firms to respect the markets in which they operate. Specifically, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) mandates crypto firms to fight manipulation or improper influencing of prices, liquidity, market information, or any other practice that harms market integrity.

Speaking to CNBC, Gibraltar’s Minister for Digital and Financial Services, Albert Isola, said:

“We were the first jurisdiction in 2018 to launch the legal and regulatory framework, and we’re now the first jurisdiction to launch a framework for market integrity. The more there is around the world in terms of international standards for this space, the more trust, the more usage, and the more adoption we will have around the world.”

He added that Gibraltar’s famous history of introducing crypto-friendly rules is not a marketing scheme. If anything, he said the jurisdiction only seeks to attract a small number of quality firms.

Market manipulation continues plaguing the crypto space

This news comes as market manipulation continues to prove a hard nut to crack for the crypto market. Apart from crypto exchanges, experts believe crypto whales play a massive role in determining the market’s direction.

Director of Research at GraniteShares Ryan Giannotto previously said Bitcoin (BTC) is an example of a coin susceptible to market manipulation. According to him, only around 0.02% of BTC holders control over 40% of the BTC in the market.

Data from Bitinforcharts.com supports Giannotto’s claims. At the moment, the top-10,000 wealthiest BTC addresses control 59.16% of the flagship cryptocurrency’s supply. To put this into perspective, recent research shows the BTC network has over 81 million wallets.

Apart from crypto, market manipulation is also evident in the non-fungible token (NFT) space. As CryptoSlate previously reported, wash trading allegedly accounts for 95% of LooksRare trading volume.

Unlike Gibraltar, most jurisdictions are struggling with regulating the crypto space. For instance, the U.S is yet to determine which regulators will oversee the crypto market, let alone create a regulatory framework.