Federal authorities announced the arrest of crypto trader Avraham Eisenberg, who conducted what he characterized as a “highly profitable trading strategy” that drained $110 million from Mango Markets, a decentralized crypto exchange.
While the complaint details Eisenberg’s activities, none of it is surprising given that the entire operation was documented on the blockchain (and in real-time on Twitter). Eisenberg even tweeted days after the incident that he was responsible and would be returning a large portion of the funds. While Eisenberg’s arrest is likely to raise concerns about the application of commodities manipulation and fraud laws to cryptocurrency, the more pressing issue raised by this case is the work of individuals to uncover flaws in decentralised protocols, as well as the impact and utility of these operations for the future of crypto.
