Exposing Price Manipulation in Phoenic Token

April 14, 2024

Unveiling the Shadows: The Phoenic Token Scheme

In the world of cryptocurrency, the line between a revolutionary opportunity and a financial pitfall can be perilously thin. Today, we turn our investigative focus towards Phoenic Token (PNIC), a cryptocurrency that has exhibited signs of potential price manipulation and could very well be part of a broader scheme.

Centralization of Control

From our analysis, a striking feature of the PNIC ecosystem is its centralized control. A minuscule group of addresses dominates the transaction volume. For instance, a single address, 0x86cbfa77...558a9, was responsible for a disproportionately large number of transactions both as a sender and a receiver. This appears to be the main operating pool for Phoenic token, so it is understandable that it would have sent a lot of tokens as it distributed them to investors on the first few days. That address was responsible for 2,535 transactions involved in distributing 182 Million tokens (when excluding the first few Multi-Billion token distributions) .

What is however unexplainable is why this address was the receiver in 1473 transactions totaling 119.46 Million tokens. Is Hakan Torehan or Micah Theard buying back 65% of tokens to create a percieved false demand, thus manipulating the price higher?

This raises the first red flag, suggesting that few hands have significant control over the coin’s movement and, by extension, its pricing.

Suspicious Transaction Patterns

Delving deeper, we observed suspiciously large transactions occurring in bursts, typically clustered within specific hours of the evening. The most active periods between 19:00 and 23:00 saw the same few addresses repeatedly exchanging vast quantities of tokens. Notably, addresses like 0xff74280527801298867553267b9f11242f00e138 and 0x0765e7d307d5a90b9281bb602963ae9182d006d8 were frequently involved in these exchanges, hinting at potential coordinated activities which are typical signs of wash trading or other manipulative behaviors.

Large Inflows and Outflows

The data shows massive inflows and outflows involving particular addresses in amounts that are unusual and raise questions about their legitimacy. Such volumes can drastically alter the coin’s market price, especially in a low liquidity environment typical of many new tokens.

Market Manipulation Indicators

The distribution of transactions further exposes the manipulative potential. For instance, removing the top 10 and bottom 10 transactions from our dataset still leaves a concentration of trading activity among a small number of traders. This suggests that the majority of the coin’s trading volume is controlled by a select few, which is a textbook characteristic of pump-and-dump schemes.

Buy vs. Sell Orders:

Both buying and selling activities are present, but the quantities and transaction sizes vary significantly. Large sell orders, such as 31,001 PNIC for $1,487.62 and 25,000 PNIC for $1,298.35, contrast sharply with smaller buy orders. This pattern might indicate that few large holders (possibly initial stakeholders) are offloading substantial amounts of tokens, influencing the market price with each transaction.

Consistency of Transactions Across Different Prices:

The presence of both buy and sell orders at closely timed intervals at different prices could suggest that certain traders are attempting to control or sway the price direction. This tactic is often used in manipulation schemes to create a misleading appearance of high volatility or market activity.

Potential Wash Trading Indicators:

Transactions such as simultaneous buys and sells of similar quantities at similar prices could be indicative of wash trading, where a trader or group of traders buy and sell the same asset to create misleading market activity and manipulate prices. Notably, transactions occurring at the same minute with very close prices could be suspect, especially if tied back to the addresses controlling significant market shares.

Limited Token Demand Beyond Initial Users

Analysis of the transaction volumes and the number of active traders involved in PNIC transactions reveals an obvious trend. Aside from the initial flurry of activity likely driven by the creators or initial investors, there appears to be very little ongoing demand for the token. The vast majority of transactions are concentrated among a few addresses, with minimal spread into a broader market. This lack of wider market participation suggests that the perceived value and demand for Phoenic Tokens are artificially maintained by a few stakeholders rather than genuine market interest.

This conclusion flies in the face of why the company held off the launch of the token for months (after they promised their investors would all be Millionaires by christmas). They told investors that they were holding off so that the could launch a massive worldwide marketing campaign. There appears to be little evidence that the company did any real marketing whatsoever, bringing in old memories of the “Times Square Takeover” flop in which a picture of Ebru Torehan was displayed on a screen in times square for 15 seconds, a marketing accomplishment that anyone with an iPhone and $39 could purchase.

Conclusion: A Grave Warning About Phoenic Token

Given these findings and the dubious history of the creating company, Metaterra, investors should approach Phoenic Token with the utmost caution. Metaterra, the parent company behind Phoenic, is not traded on any recognized exchange and has been previously valued at multi-billion dollars based on falsified hypothetical Bullshit data provided to the auditors, Rodl & Partner. This pattern of deceit, combined with the manipulative transaction patterns observed, strongly indicates that Phoenic Token is not just manipulated but an outright scam.

At MTRCstock.com, and MiracleCashFacts.com our mission is to shed light on these dubious practices to protect investors from potential scams. This case of Phoenic Token is a textbook example of why diligence and skepticism are paramount in the cryptocurrency space. Stay informed, remain skeptical, and protect yourself from investments that seem too good to be true.

A copy of the transaction data can be downloaded here: