NEO Foundation Denies Insider Trading and Price Manipulation After 35% Price Drop

Over the past week, NEO's [NEO] price movement has left the whole crypto community talking. As such, some investors have accused the NEO Foundation of potential insider trading and price manipulation.

The cryptocurrency markets have seen their fair share of volatility in recent times, with some coins being more affected than others. One such coin that has been a subject of much discussion is NEO.

Over the past week, there has been an outcry in the crypto community regarding the price movement of NEO. Some investors have accused the NEO Foundation of potential insider trading and price manipulation.

This fury has made the NEO Foundation come out and refute the said claims. The foundation has denied any involvement following a 35% dip in NEO’s price charts between the 25th of March and the 1st of April 2025.

Through the official statement shared on X (formerly Twitter) Neo Smart Economy, the foundation has refuted all claims of insider involvement.

The team clarified that the recent market activities were not initiated by the NEO Foundation or NEO Global Development. They emphasized that neither the Founders nor any other team members have sold tokens during this period.

While the team has no concrete details on who is responsible for the recent selling activities, an internal investigation has revealed suspicious transactions.

According to official data, NEO prices dropped from $8 to $5 between the 24th of and 1st of April.

The recent decline has alarmed both investors and long-term holders. In response, the Foundation conducted an internal investigation to uncover any suspicious transactions.

The investigation revealed significant activity involving a Neo Legacy address that accumulated 11.8 million tokens between 2017 and 2021. In 2021, these addresses moved 11.1 million tokens to the Neo 3 blockchain. Subsequently, the Neo 3 wallet transferred these tokens to related wallets, with most of the funds ending up in a Binance deposit wallet.

Starting on the 24th of March 2025, the Neo 3 wallet initiated a series of transfers, moving 9.25 million tokens—about 13.2% of the circulating supply—to Binance. These transfers, valued at approximately $60 million at an average price of $6.5 per token, left only 2 million tokens in the Neo 3 wallets as of now.

However, the team emphasized that, despite the timing, the concerns linking the price decline to these transactions remain speculative.

Thus, the team concluded that;

” While the timing of these transfers aligns with the observed price drop, we cannot confirm a direct causal relationship at this stage.”

According to AMBCrypto’s analysis, this scandal has left market participants in extreme panic and fear. As such, holders and investors have turned to selling.

Thus, the altcoin was experiencing significant selling pressure as bearish sentiments mounted. Looking at the crypto’s CMF, it has declined from 0.07 to -0.19 since the 24th of March.

Such a decline suggests that, throughout those days, the market saw significant selling activity. This is further validated by the declining RSI, which dropped from 42 to hit oversold territory.

Looking further, NEO’s spot netflow has remained positive over the past eight days. At press time, the altcoin’s netflow sat at $2.07 million, reflecting increased exchange inflow.

With inflow outpacing outflow, it shows that the recent events have turned everyone bearish, and they are panic selling to avoid further losses.

In summary, the recent scandal has triggered intense panic and fear among investors and long-term holders. The prevailing investor sentiment reflects a severe lack of confidence in the network, with many anticipating further price declines.

If panic selling persists, prices could potentially fall below $4.5, reaching levels last seen in June 2017 around $4.3.