OKEx Rebuffs Market Manipulation Claims Over Early Bitcoin Cash Futures Settlement

The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange OKEx hit back at accusations it “manipulated markets” by adjusting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) futures settlements in a fresh statement Nov. 20 sent to Cointelegraph.

The exchange, which opted to deliver BCH futures early due to the coin’s contentious hard fork Nov. 15, subsequently saw a barrage of negative publicity over the decision, pundits complaining it had overstepped its remit in freely deciding when and how futures contracts would be settled.

In particular, a dedicated Medium post by an entity calling itself AMBER AI accused OKEx of “outright market manipulation and one of the more serious acts of fraud in the history of limit order book trading in the cryptocurrency markets.”

Published Nov. 19, the post provides a lengthy analysis of the futures settlement and further alleges OKEx contradicted its own small print several times during the process.

Traders lost “$24 million” due to the move, the post writes, continuing:

“The course of events surrounding the BCH hard fork are indicative of market manipulation, fraud and deceit.”

Responding, the OKEx exchange sent a circular to users in which it said the futures settlement change was “based on the consideration of market integrity and customer interests.”

“In the absence of evidence, Amber AI alleged us for trading against our own customers and manipulating the markets,” it wrote, adding:

“These are completely false allegations and the defamatory statements have caused serious damages to OKEx's reputation.”

Markets continue to experience extreme turbulence almost a week after the fork, with BCH losing almost 50 percent of its value in the past 24 hours alone.

OKEx added it would consider legal action against AMBER AI for “interfering” in its operations.