The Indicator from Planet Money : NPR

The Coinbase website on a smartphone arranged in New Hyde Park, New York, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. Base, a public blockchain Coinbase Global Inc. started, is exploring a new cryptocurrency, a move that could help raise money for the projects it underpins

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

There has been an inordinate amount of trading activity recently in the crypto markets. But what if much of that activity was an illusion? A smokescreen? A fraud? Today on the show, we look at the practice of wash trading, and how it’s evolved in the crypto world. 

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For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.