Suspicions raised as Alameda Research denies affiliation with Reef Finance

On Saturday, Reef Finance posted a weekly update claiming quantitative trading firm Alameda Research (AR) had invested $20 million into the project. Several publications hailed the move as the start of strategic cooperation between the two firms.

However, today, Sam Trabucco, a trader at Alameda, played down the relationship’s extent, even accusing Reef Finance of reneging on the reported $20 million deal.

The price of REEF hit an all-time high, of $0.058, in the early hours of today. But significant sell pressure tanked the price to $0.038 as the day worn on. A bounce at this level sees recovery of sorts. But each subsequent hourly candle has so far posted a lower low.

Reef Finance embroiled in another dubious incident

Reef Finance burst onto the scene in 2019 to much fanfare. Later the following year, it launched on Polkadot as well as on Binance Launchpool.

It’s described as a DeFi platform that offers cross-chain trading. The founders highlighted the fragmented and painful experience of trading, lending, and staking, which they wish to address with their protocol.

Aimed at offering noobies the best investment strategies, Reef got off to a solid start. But recently, several dubious incidents have raised suspicions.

Last month, Reddit user u/Sisquitch claimed that Reef’s circulating supply had suddenly increased. He then went on to say that the response from Reef’s official Telegram and Reddit were less than forthcoming in allaying his concerns.

“Recently there was a sudden increase of the circulating supply by 0.5 Billion, equal to 2.5% of the total supply (20 billion). Given that there is no information about this on their website, concerned investors have obviously been asking a lot of questions. My main trepidation comes from the response from REEF to these questions.”

With that, Trabucco’s comments today arouse further doubt. He claims AR is not affiliated with Reef Finance, and nor does it endorse the project. What’s more, Trabucco broke down details of the $20mn investment, saying it was an OTC trade deal, which Reef Finance later went back on.

1. Alameda is not affiliated with REEF.
2. Alameda does not endorse REEF.
3. We agreed to an OTC trade with REEF; they immediately went to the press to brag.
4. They then reneged on the OTC trade.
5. We obviously do not recommend anyone do business with REEF in any way.

— Sam Trabucco (@AlamedaTrabucco) March 15, 2021

Accusations fired at Alameda Research

The community response to Trabucco’s original tweet above has seen some users accuse AR of wrongdoing by sitting on this information. Others claim AR even profiting by selling at the all-time high/shorting REEF.

In a follow-on tweet, Trabucco denied these claims. He clarified the situation by saying AR did buy REEF tokens but less than the quantity initially agreed upon. He also stated that they continue to hold the majority of the tokens.

As for sitting on information, Trabucco responded by saying the renege happened minutes before his original tweet.

For clarity, BTW: of the 20m tokens we did buy (the original deal was for much more; REEF reneged on the remaining tokens), we are still in possession of the great majority, any claims about us immediately selling all the tokens are false. https://t.co/T738aqv63f

— Sam Trabucco (@AlamedaTrabucco) March 15, 2021

Reef Finance has yet to respond to the situation officially.

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