This seems like a weak paper on the face of it, especially considering it is coming from a criminal justice journal and not a quantitative finance journal. The existence of pump and dumps, I would say, is obvious, in and out of crypto. But this paper fails by lacking a method to confidently detect pump and dump schemes. They successfully detect 2 of 4 schemes, no better than a coin toss. You might say this is better than nothing, but 50% is not really enough to either protect or extend your portfolio in the face of an impending pump and dump.
Assuredly there are many crypto hedge funds able to predict pump and dumps with much higher accuracy, but they are keeping the methods to themselves to protect their intellectual property.
Assuredly there are many crypto hedge funds able to predict pump and dumps with much higher accuracy, but they are keeping the methods to themselves to protect their intellectual property.