Binance post confirming insider trading sends 'year of the yellow fruit' meme token even higher

Binance says it conducted an internal investigation that uncovered signs of insider trading at the exchange. A suspected employee is suspended, according to a message from Binance Futures, and the allegedly manipulated token is pumping. 

According to a post on Monday, Binance’s internal audit department received a report on Dec. 7 that claimed a Binance employee advertised a newly listed token using official Binance social media channels to “obtain personal gain.”

Binance claims the employee “used the text and images relating to the token” to post using official Binance X accounts “less than a minute” after the token was issued onchain at 05:29 UTC.

“These actions constitute abuse of their position for personal gain and violate our policies and code of professional conduct,” Binance wrote. The exchange said it contacted authorities in “the employee’s jurisdiction” and could pursue legal action.

Although Binance did not name the token in its official communique, it is suspected that the exchange is referring to the “year of the yellow fruit” token. The Block reached out to Binance for confirmation. 

Year of the yellow fruit was created at around 5:30 UTC on BNB Chain and followed by an immediate pump, according to DEX Screener data. A trading pair with Wrapped BNB reached a high of $0.0038 about an hour after it was listed and promoted on X.

However, in a sign of crypto’s social mores and the permissionlessness of blockchain tech, the token rallied even higher following Binance’s post confirming insider trading. The suspected token reached a fresh high above $0.0061 shortly after Binance’s disclosure. 

The token, which has a fully diluted market cap of about $1.9 million, has seen $13 million in trading volume, including $6.4 million in buy volume and $6.6 million in sell volume. Its current price is $0.001989. BSC Scan counts 3,658 holders.

The “year of the yellow fruit” token name appears to be a reference to an early post made by the @Binance account on Dec. 4, quoting Raoul Pal at Binance Blockchain Week. According to screenshots shared on X from the alleged insider trader, official Binance channels encouraged traders to “plant wisely” and “harvest abundantly” while again referring to yellow fruit. 

“Yesterday, the 'year of yellow fruit' meme caused an uproar in the crypto community, and on-chain data basically confirms it was privately operated by internal employees!” Marcos Crypto posted ahead of Binance’s disclosure on Monday. 

BNB Chain, a modified fork of Ethereum, was one of the best-performing chains this year, largely driven by the rise of the Aster perps DEX, the success of Binance Alpha, and the growth of its memecoin ecosystem. Beginning in May, PancakeSwap posted volumes it last recorded during the 2021 bull market, according to The Block's data.

“At Binance, we always uphold a user-first principle and are committed to transparency, fairness, and integrity,” the exchange said. “We have zero tolerance for any misconduct. We will continue strengthening internal controls, refining our policies, and ensuring incidents like this do not recur.”

Binance notes that it will split a $100,000 reward with five whistleblowers who reported the suspicious trading activity via its official whistleblower channel.