Approximately half of the 1,700 winning wallets in a recent PancakeSwap draw are interconnected and allegedly colluded. This conclusion was reached by Cointelegraph.
In early July, the DEX announced a competition involving projects listed on the Binance Alpha platform. Each contributed $50,000 to the prize pool.
To receive rewards, traders needed to achieve a certain volume with sponsor tokens on PancakeSwap. The prize pool was divided into three categories: $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000. A participant could win prizes for all five coins, but only once per coin. The maximum reward for a single wallet was capped at $2,500.
The contest was initially set to end on July 27 but was extended to August 5.
It turned out that at least 800 “randomly” selected addresses were actually interacting with each other. They transferred BNB to one another to artificially inflate trading volume to meet the contest conditions.
Immediately after “winning,” the wallets transferred the remaining tokens to the next participant in the scheme.
“The wallets are directly connected to each other, and they all won. The probability of such a coincidence is close to zero,” said a representative of League of Traders, one of the contest sponsors.
For example, a wallet recognized as a winner and receiving 21,730 LOT conducted cyclical buying and selling of tokens through WBNB on PancakeSwap. After reaching the required trading volume, it converted all tokens back to BNB and immediately transferred them to the next “winner.”
To fund the fictitious trades, the trader used 2.7 BNB ($2,130), which was credited to his account less than a minute before the operations began from another address. The latter also appeared on the winners’ list, but in the MORE token category.
PancakeSwap representatives did not comment on the situation, despite a request from the publication. Meanwhile, the largest DEX on the BNB Chain completed its third contest with a total prize pool of $300,000, announcing 2,040 “random” winners.
That’s a wrap! 🏆
2,040 random lucky winners have been rewarded with respective project tokens. Check your wallet to see if you’re one of them.
Next trading competition coming soon 👀 https://t.co/TvN2n1pomd
— PancakeSwap (@PancakeSwap) September 4, 2025
In August, the trading platform launched perpetual swaps based on Apple, Tesla, and Amazon stocks.