做市商是新加密项目的“帮助者”，但“贷款期权模型”被滥用

在过去的一年中，加密货币行业的主要市场一直呆滞，其中一些已经恢复了自由时代。

The past year has seen the primary market of the crypto industry become sluggish, and some of it has returned to the pre-liberation era. In the "bear market", various human nature and "decentralized" regulatory loopholes have been exposed. In the industry, market makers should be the "helpers" of new projects, helping projects to gain a foothold by providing liquidity and stabilizing prices. However, there is a kind of cooperation method called "loan option model" that can be generally happy in the bull market, but it is being abused by some unscrupulous actors in the bear market, quietly harming small crypto projects, causing trust collapse and market chaos.

在过去的一年中，加密货币行业的主要市场变得迟钝，其中一些又回到了自由时代。在“熊市”中，已经暴露了各种人性和“分散”监管漏洞。在该行业中，做市商应该是新项目的“帮助者”，并通过提供流动性和稳定价格来帮助项目获得立足点。但是，有一种称为“贷款期权模型”的合作方法，通常在牛市上可能很高兴，但是熊市中的一些不道德的演员滥用了这种合作，却悄悄地损害了小型加密项目，从而导致信任崩溃和市场混乱。

Traditional financial markets have also encountered similar problems, but they have minimized the damage by relying on mature supervision and transparent mechanisms. Personally, I think the crypto industry can learn something from traditional finance to solve these chaos and create a relatively fair ecosystem. This article will talk in depth about the operation of the loan option model, how it digs holes for projects, the comparison with the traditional market, and the current situation.

传统的金融市场也遇到了类似的问题，但是它们通过依靠成熟的监督和透明机制来最大程度地减少了损害。就个人而言，我认为加密货币行业可以从传统金融中学到一些东西来解决这些混乱并创造一个相对公平的生态系统。本文将深入讨论贷款期权模型的运营，如何挖掘项目漏洞，与传统市场的比较以及当前情况。

1. Loan option model: sounds good, but there are pitfalls

1。贷款选项模型：听起来不错，但是有陷阱

In the crypto market, the task of market makers is to ensure that there is enough trading volume in the market by frequently buying and selling tokens, and that prices do not fluctuate greatly because no one is buying or selling. For projects that are just starting out, it is almost necessary to find a market maker to cooperate with - otherwise it is difficult to go on the exchange and attract investors. The "loan option model" is a common way of cooperation: the project party lends a large number of tokens to the market maker, usually for free or at a very low cost; the market maker takes these tokens to the exchange to "make a market" to maintain an active market. There is often an option clause in the contract that allows the market maker to return the tokens at a certain price at a certain point in the future, or simply buy them, but they can choose not to do so.

在加密市场中，做市商的任务是通过经常买卖代币来确保市场上有足够的交易量，而且价格不会大大波动，因为没有人买或出售。对于刚刚起步的项目，几乎有必要找到一个做市商可以合作的项目 - 否则，很难进行交流并吸引投资者。 “贷款期权模型”是一种常见的合作方式：项目党通常免费或以非常低的成本向市销商提供大量令牌；做市商将这些代币带到交换中，以“建立市场”以维持一个积极的市场。合同中通常会有一个选项条款，使做市商可以在将来的某个时刻以一定的价格返回令牌，或者只是购买它们，但他们可以选择不这样做。

It sounds like a win-win deal: the project gets market support, and the market maker earns some transaction spread or service fees. But the problem lies in the "flexibility" of the option terms and the opacity of the contract. The information asymmetry between the project and the market maker gives some dishonest market makers the opportunity to exploit loopholes. They use the borrowed tokens not to help the project, but to mess up the market and put their own profits first.

这听起来像是双赢的交易：该项目获得了市场支持，做市商可以获得一些交易的价差或服务费。但是问题在于期权条款的“灵活性”和合同的不透明性。该项目与做市商之间的信息不对称使一些不诚实的做市商有机会利用漏洞。他们使用借用的代币并不帮助项目，而是将自己的利润弄乱。

2. Predatory Behavior: How Projects Are Scammed

2。掠夺性行为：如何欺骗项目

If the loan option model is abused, it can really harm the project. The most common method is "dumping": market makers dump borrowed tokens into the market, and the price is instantly depressed. Retail investors see that something is wrong and sell them, and the market is completely panicked. Market makers can profit from this, for example, by "shorting" - first selling tokens at a high price, and then buying them back at a low price when the price collapses and returning them to the project party. The difference is their profit. Or, they use option terms to "return" tokens at the lowest price, at an absurdly low cost.

如果滥用贷款期权模型，它确实会损害项目。最常见的方法是“倾销”：做市商将借入令牌借入市场，价格立即降低。散户投资者认为有什么问题并出售它们，市场完全惊慌失措。做市商可以从中获利，例如“短路” - 首先以高价出售令牌，然后在价格崩溃并将其返回项目聚会时以低价购买。区别在于他们的利润。或者，他们使用选项术语以最低的价格“返回”令牌，价格低廉。

This operation is devastating to small projects. We have also seen many cases where the price of tokens was cut in half within a few days, the market value evaporated directly, and the project had basically no chance of raising funds again. What's worse is that the lifeblood of crypto projects is community trust. Once the price collapses, investors either think the project is a "scam" or completely lose confidence, and the community will be dispersed. Exchanges have requirements for the trading volume and price stability of tokens. A sharp drop in prices may directly lead to delisting, and the project will basically be "cooled down."

这项操作对小型项目造成了毁灭性。我们还看到许多情况下，代币的价格在几天之内将其降低了一半，市场价值直接蒸发，并且该项目基本上没有机会再次筹集资金。更糟糕的是，加密项目的命脉是社区信任。一旦价格崩溃，投资者要么认为该项目是一个“骗局”，要么完全失去信心，社区将被散布。交易所对代币的交易量和价格稳定性有要求。价格急剧下跌可能会直接导致脱颖而出，并且该项目基本上将“冷静下来”。

To make matters worse, these cooperation agreements are often hidden behind non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and outsiders cannot see the details. Most of the project teams are newbies with technical backgrounds, and their awareness of financial markets and contract risks is still weak. Faced with experienced market makers, they are completely led by the nose and have no idea what "pitfall" they have signed. This information asymmetry makes small projects the "fat meat" of predatory behavior.

更糟糕的是，这些合作协议通常被隐藏在不披露协议（NDA）之后，而局外人看不到细节。大多数项目团队都是具有技术背景的新手，他们对金融市场的认识和合同风险仍然很弱。面对经验丰富的做市商，他们完全由鼻子领导，不知道他们签署了什么“陷阱”。这些信息不对称使小项目成为掠夺性行为的“脂肪肉”。

3. Other pitfalls

3。其他陷阱

In addition, we have also come across many cases reported by customers. In addition to the pitfalls of the "loan option model" by selling borrowed tokens to suppress prices and abusing option terms to settle at low prices, the market makers in the crypto market also have a lot of other tricks to specifically harm inexperienced small projects. For example, they will engage in "wash sales", using their own accounts or "vests" to buy and sell each other, brushing out false trading volume, making the project look very popular and attract retail investors to enter the market, but once they stop, the trading volume will immediately return to zero, the price will collapse, and the project may even be kicked out by the exchange.

此外，我们还遇到了许多客户报告的情况。除了出售借用的代币以压制价格和滥用期权条款以低价定居的“贷款期权模型”的陷阱外，加密货币市场中的做市商还具有许多其他技巧来特别损害没有疾病的小型项目。例如，他们将使用自己的帐户或“背心”进行“洗涤销售”，互相买卖，刷掉虚假的交易量，使项目看起来非常流行，并吸引零售投资者进入市场，但是一旦停止，交易量将立即返回零，价格将崩溃，甚至可能会被交易所踢出。

There are often "invisible knives"

经常有“无形的刀”