Reddit Dismisses Moderators Over Alleged MOON Token Insider Trading

By: Eliza Bennet

Two moderators of Reddit's r/CryptoCurrency community have been discharged over allegations of insider trading involving Moons (MOON) token. The moderators in question purportedly unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of MOON tokens minutes before the formal announcement of the blockchain-supported points program's termination. This move led to a market dump and was flagged by on-chain trackers such as Lookonchain. The dismissed moderators had advance information about the closure, which caused the token to plummet by almost 85% to $0.0198. However, they managed to sell in time, securing profits before the remaining unaware community felt the losses.

Reddit's blockchain-based points program was recently shut down. The program allowed participants to earn and expend points with community-specific crypto tokens like MOON. Within the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit, users who commented or posted were awarded the ERC-20 token MOON, enabling them to tip, exchange or utilize it within the community.

Following insider trading allegations, a core contributor to the r/CryptoCurrency community, and founder of MoonDust, U/mellon, confirmed that two moderators were removed citing their early sale of MOON tokens prior to Reddit's official announcement. Furthermore, three other moderators are currently under investigation, according to the core contributor.