Everyday crypto investors face a growing threat as sophisticated, multi-chain market manipulation schemes are generating six-figure profits within hours, according to a new report from crypto surveillance firm Solidus Labs.
These schemes exploit technical tools, social coordination, and regulatory blind spots, marking a new frontier in digital asset market abuse.
PumpCell and the Rise of Multi-Chain Market Manipulation
Pump-and-dump schemes have existed in crypto for years, but the rise of automated bots and cross-chain coordination has created a highly organized and real-time manipulation network.
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Solidus Labs identified a network of actors, notably an invite-only Telegram group known as PumpCell, that orchestrates real-time token pumps across major blockchains, including Solana, Binance Smart Chain, and Ethereum.
“Members of the group, all seasoned in the crypto degen culture, share new tokens and deploy their own. The group’s purpose is to pump token prices through coordinated buys and hype, attract unsuspecting investors, then profit by selling at the peak,” states the report .
PumpCell members rely on bots, liquidity seeding, and aggressive coordination to inflate micro-cap token prices before dumping at peak valuations.
Chat logs reviewed by Solidus Labs show traders celebrating profits in real time and providing step-by-step instructions to exploit new tokens, illustrating a carefully orchestrated operation that blends technical skill with social influence.
Tactics, Profits, and Regulatory Blind Spots in Crypto Abuse
The report details common tactics used by these groups, including instant purchases via automated “sniper” bots such as Maestro and Banana Gun, misleading hype through memes, cultural references, and parody accounts, and “larping” tokens to appear legitimate.
As token prices reach their peak, insiders quietly sell while mocking those who monitor wallets or sell at a loss, a practice they call “getting farmed.” Profits are flaunted in street slang, with phrases like “60 racks” signaling big wins.
Some tokens have reportedly reached fully diluted valuations of $2 million within an hour, while individual PumpCell members report daily earnings of $1,000 to $3,000 through coordinated manipulation.
According to Solidus Labs, the combination of technical sophistication, social engineering, and group coordination makes these operations highly adaptive and difficult to detect.
Why This Matters
For everyday crypto investors, these schemes mean a real risk of rapid losses, underscoring the need for vigilance and better market safeguards.
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People Also Ask:
A crypto pump-and-dump is a market manipulation scheme where a group artificially inflates a cryptocurrency’s price (“pump”) to attract unsuspecting investors, then sells off their holdings at the peak (“dump”), leaving others with losses.
These schemes often rely on coordinated buys, automated bots, social media hype, and misleading narratives to drive rapid price increases. Insiders sell at the peak while retail investors are left holding depreciating tokens.
They can lead to significant financial losses for retail investors and destabilize token markets. Because these operations exploit unregulated or loosely regulated spaces, they are hard to detect and prevent.
Yes, in many jurisdictions, market manipulation is illegal, though enforcement in crypto markets is challenging due to decentralization and cross-border activity.
