【Watch Brooklyn Nine】

Bitcoin is Watch Brooklyn Ninecomplicated. From what, exactly, it's good for to who created it, there remains a host of unanswered questions about the world's foremost cryptocurrency.

But when it comes to what drove the monumental price rise over the last 9 years, we now have at least a partial answer — and it's not what you'd think. You see, it turns out that one person or one coordinated group is likely responsible for a massive increase in Bitcoin's value back in 2013. Yup, just one.

SEE ALSO: You know who's not loving Bitcoin's rise? Speed freaks.

That's the conclusion of a group of researchers in the Journal of Monetary Economics, who write that the price of Bitcoin has been (surprise!) subject to manipulation over the years.

"Suspicious trades on a Bitcoin currency exchange are linked to rises in the exchange rate," they note in the paper highlights. "A single actor likely drove the USD/BTC exchange rate from $150 to $1000 in 2 months."

That's ... quite the jump to attribute to one person. And how did he or she allegedly pull this off? Sketchily.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Let's harken back to 2013, when, according to the Wall Street Journal, the exchange Mt. Gox (which actually and truly started as a trading site for Magic: The Gathering cards) was handling roughly 70 percent of all Bitcoin trades. The researchers note that 600,000 Bitcoins "were fraudulently acquired" via trading on the exchange, and that "suspicious trades" corresponded with price increases that were outside of Bitcoin's normal growth.

To the moon. Credit: Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

"Based on rigorous analysis with extensive robustness checks," the researchers note, "the paper demonstrates that the suspicious trading activity likely caused the unprecedented spike in the USD-BTC exchange rate in late 2013, when the rate jumped from around $150 to more than $1,000 in two months."

So what does this mean for Bitcoin's future? After all, this was all in the past, right? Tyler Moore, one of the researchers behind the study, thinks we should take note.

"While we do not know what has driven the recent spike in Bitcoin's value, we cannot rule out fraud," he explained over email. "Greater assurances are needed that the trades taking place are in fact legitimate and reflect buying and selling by independent actors. Unless and until such oversight is implemented, we cannot trust the exchange rate to reflect only legitimate sources of supply and demand."

In other words, it's important to keep in mind that the largely unregulated world of cryptocurrencies is potentially vulnerable to market manipulation. If someone wants to pump and dump, well, they probably can.

Does that mean that Bitcoin, or its less-popular altcoin brethren, are destined to crash? Not necessarily. It does mean, though, that anyone dipping their toe into the cryptocurrency pool should do so with the understanding that there may be actors working behind the scene to juice exchange rates. Buyer beware, and all that.

This story has been updated to include comment from Tyler Moore.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Here's what you need to know before you buy bitcoin

---

Topics Bitcoin

• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Life
• Social Good
• Science
• Tech
• Shopping
• Deals

• New panda mom doesn't know she has twins thanks to sneaky zookeepers
• 'Moana 2': Lin
• Wordle today: The answer and hints for February 9
• Elon Musk's SpaceX is betting big on its rocket launch this week
• How to Secure Your Android Phone and Get the Most Out of Smart Lock
• EPA chief is tongue
• Who are the 2024 Super Bowl referee, judges?
• Netflix's 'One Day' review: A magnificent ode to long love
• We Test a $1,000 CPU From 2010 vs. Ryzen 3
• Neil deGrasse Tyson isn't riding SpaceX to Mars until Elon Musk answers this challenge

• Netflix cancels 'Luke Cage,' the second Marvel series to go
• Twitter shuts down spambots spreading pro
• '13 Reasons Why' star named in lawsuit involving Kurt Cobain and a murder conspiracy
• Facebook's fight against fake news is actually working. Sort of.
• 5 ways you can stand up for domestic violence survivors
• There was almost a casualty in the nightly war against evil at Disney World's live show
• Black Lives Matter: The timeline of a movement
• Bow down to badass Simone Biles
• Is Apple dropping a major hint with all its iPad event invite designs?
• 'Soulcalibur 6' character creator produces amazing, disturbing results

• Comparing Team Communication Apps: What Do You Get for Free?
• Spanish Journals by Catherine Lacey
• A Sex Memoir by Edmund White
• Tennessee vs. TAMU basketball livestreams: Game time, streaming deals
• A worthless juicer and a Gipper-branded server
• Room, Moon, Moon, Balloon: Reading and Breathing by Jamieson Webster
• EPA chief is tongue
• The Prom of the Colorado River by Meg Bernhard
• ‘Jurassic World’: What was the headbutting dinosaur who saved the day?
• If Taylor Swift attends Super Bowl 2024, who will she bring?

• SpaceX's Starlink satellite launch in pictures
• MashTalk: Samsung's Galaxy S8 is here, but does it live up to all the hype?
• Running Diaries by Kim Beil
• Rabelaisian Enumerations: On Lists by Andrew Hui
• NYT mini crossword answers for May 12, 2025
• New Theater, New York, January 2025 by Rhoda Feng
• NYT's The Mini crossword answers for February 8
• New Poetry: Margaret Ross, Nora Claire Miller, and Richie Hofmann Recommend by The Paris Review
• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 1: Tips to solve 'Connections' #690.
• A Journey Through Four Gyms by Vivian Hu