‘Dead’ crypto DubaiCoin pumped 1,400% on a phoney press release
Crypto traders pumped the price of micro-cap DubaiCoin (DBIX) nearly 1,400% last week, after a press release claimed Dubai’s government had officially endorsed the token.
Dubai’s Media Office last Thursday denied that an official authority had approved DBIX. The post promptly sent DBIX’s price spiralling 80% from its peak.
“The website promoting the coin is an elaborate phishing campaign that is designed to steal personal information from its visitors,” tweeted Dubai’s government on May 27.
“Dubai does not currently have an official cryptocurrency.”
Markets had reacted to a supposed press release from Arabianchain Technology (the company behind DBIX).
The May 26 post claimed Dubai’s government was “firmly focused on DubaiCoin” for the coming years.
DBIX traded for $0.10 on May 24 and hit $1.50 at its peak on the day of the press release.
Arabianchain Technology later said it never made such announcements and labeled the situation a scam.
Pump and dumpers target low volume crypto like DBIX
One analyst told Gulf News the DBIX pump came “out of nowhere and the volumes were low,” implying the incident was a targeted ruse to profit from a temporary price boost.
“Also, the website of the company involved does not give details on the currency beyond October 2019. These are pretty much the signs that it’s a ‘dead coin’,” they said.
Crypto price aggregators CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap have since removed DBIX from their sites.
Dubai government officials told Khaleej Times they’re now investigating.
[Read more: Crypto whale stuck in $150M short squeeze during battle for tiny altcoin]
It’s worth noting that DBIX is not a new project at all, having popped up way back in 2016.
DBIX — a fork of Ethereum — was launched in 2017 and followed by numerous media reports sharing the project’s lofty goal of one day becoming Dubai’s adopted crypto.
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