Market abuse in crypto markets

August 2025

This report covers a roundtable discussion focused on the issues of market abuse risks in crypto markets and the appropriate regulatory response that took place at the Point Zero Forum 2025.

Crypto markets continuously demonstrate risks of market abuse, including challenges due to new technological vulnerabilities like smart contract exploits. Traditional patterns such as pump-and-dump schemes persist, but crypto markets provide criminals with more powerful tools for market abuse and also present unique risks due to their decentralized nature. Key issues include wash trading, flash loans, pump-and-dump schemes, and maximum extractable value (MEV), all of which undermine market integrity.

The need for a market abuse regime for crypto assets was emphasised by participants of the roundtable, focusing on insider trading, liquidity and price manipulation, disclosure requirements, surveillance, and data sharing. It was concluded that existing regulatory frameworks for securities trading can provide a regulatory baseline that needs to be complemented with specific elements. Those components take the unique market structure with offchain and on-chain transactions as well as regulated and unregulated marketplaces spread across various jurisdictions and therefore the need for global cooperation into account.