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{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"b617fa0c-4c7c-4ddc-885e-fbd0c5fffebd","kind":"publish","page_slug":"palmswap","published_at":"2026-05-30T12:14:58.567Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Palmswap","sections":[{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap V1 launches on BNB Chain — Bitcoinist","type":"news_article","url":"https://bitcoinist.com/a-cex-like-dex-palmswap-v1-launches-perpetual-exchange-on-bnb-chain/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap fair launch raises over 6,600 BNB — CryptoNews","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/market/13677795/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Bernd Stöckl CPO and Co-Founder profile — Medium","type":"other","url":"https://medium.com/@omemmaan/bernd-st%C3%B6ckl-is-the-cpo-and-co-founder-of-palmswap-a-decentralized-perpetual-contract-trading-1f7c728ecab0"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap DApp status — DappRadar","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/palmswap/"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Analysis of Palmswap incident — SlowMist via Medium","type":"research","url":"https://slowmist.medium.com/analysis-of-palmswap-incident-c6b5e3eb2815"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Incident Analysis — CertiK","type":"research","url":"https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/6WoTgIL26yP5NZyStcQZps-palmswap-incident-analysis"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Decoding Palmswap's $900k Exploit — QuillAudits","type":"research","url":"https://www.quillaudits.com/blog/hack-analysis/palmswap-900k-exploit"},{"credibility":2,"name":"$900K Price Manipulation Attack on Palmswap — Olympix","type":"research","url":"https://olympix.security/blog/900k-price-manipulation-attack-on-palmswap"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Attack transaction — BSCScan","type":"on_chain","url":"https://bscscan.com/tx/0x62dba55054fa628845fecded658ff5b1ec1c5823f1a5e0118601aa455a30eac9"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Exploiter Returns $721,450 of Stolen Funds — Binance Square","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/867128"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap V2 Community Update AMA November 2023 — Medium","type":"official","url":"https://palmswap.medium.com/v2-community-update-ama-thursday-november-19th-recap-0f98fc23e0f2"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Incident Analysis — CertiK","type":"research","url":"https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/6WoTgIL26yP5NZyStcQZps-palmswap-incident-analysis"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"PALMSWAP – Part 1 – Token Audit — Independent Blog","type":"research","url":"https://crypto981.wordpress.com/2023/07/08/palmswap-part-1-token-audit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Incident Analysis — CertiK","type":"research","url":"https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/6WoTgIL26yP5NZyStcQZps-palmswap-incident-analysis"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Decoding Palmswap's $900k Exploit — QuillAudits","type":"research","url":"https://www.quillaudits.com/blog/hack-analysis/palmswap-900k-exploit"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap secures partnership with Gotbit for the Palmswap liquidity event — CoinTelegraph Press Release","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/press-releases/palmswap-secures-partnership-with-gotbit-for-the-palmswap-liquidity-event"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SEC Charges Three So-Called Market Makers — SEC.gov","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-166"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit and Founder Sentenced for Market Manipulation — DOJ","type":"court_filing","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit and Founder Plead Guilty — DOJ","type":"court_filing","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-plead-guilty-market"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap joins forces with Gotbit ahead of liquidity event — Coinspeaker","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coinspeaker.com/palmswap-gotbit-liquidity-event/"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap price today — CoinMarketCap","type":"research","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/palmswap/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap DApp status — DappRadar","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/palmswap/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap V2 Community Update AMA November 2023 — Medium","type":"official","url":"https://palmswap.medium.com/v2-community-update-ama-thursday-november-19th-recap-0f98fc23e0f2"}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"ZachXBT on X","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/zachxbt"},{"credibility":3,"name":"ZachXBT Mirror.xyz archive","type":"social_media","url":"https://zachxbt.mirror.xyz/"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Analysis of Palmswap incident — SlowMist via Medium","type":"research","url":"https://slowmist.medium.com/analysis-of-palmswap-incident-c6b5e3eb2815"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Incident Analysis — CertiK","type":"research","url":"https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/6WoTgIL26yP5NZyStcQZps-palmswap-incident-analysis"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Decoding Palmswap's $900k Exploit — QuillAudits","type":"research","url":"https://www.quillaudits.com/blog/hack-analysis/palmswap-900k-exploit"},{"credibility":2,"name":"$900K Price Manipulation Attack on Palmswap — Olympix Security","type":"research","url":"https://olympix.security/blog/900k-price-manipulation-attack-on-palmswap"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap Exploiter Returns $721,450 of Stolen Funds — Binance Square","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/867128"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap V2 Community Update AMA November 2023 — Medium","type":"official","url":"https://palmswap.medium.com/v2-community-update-ama-thursday-november-19th-recap-0f98fc23e0f2"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap secures partnership with Gotbit — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","url":"https://cointelegraph.com/press-releases/palmswap-secures-partnership-with-gotbit-for-the-palmswap-liquidity-event"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SEC Charges Three Crypto Market Makers including Gotbit — SEC.gov","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-166"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit and Founder Plead Guilty — DOJ","type":"court_filing","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-plead-guilty-market"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit and Founder Sentenced — DOJ","type":"court_filing","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap V1 launches on BNB Chain — Bitcoinist","type":"news_article","url":"https://bitcoinist.com/a-cex-like-dex-palmswap-v1-launches-perpetual-exchange-on-bnb-chain/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap fair launch raises over 6,600 BNB — CryptoNews","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/market/13677795/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap price and market data — CoinMarketCap","type":"research","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/palmswap/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap DApp status — DappRadar","type":"research","url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/palmswap/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Attack transaction on BSCScan","type":"on_chain","url":"https://bscscan.com/tx/0x62dba55054fa628845fecded598ff5b1ec1c5823f1a5e0118601aa455a30eac9"},{"credibility":3,"name":"ZachXBT on X","type":"social_media","url":"https://x.com/zachxbt"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Palmswap joins forces with Gotbit — Coinspeaker","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coinspeaker.com/palmswap-gotbit-liquidity-event/"}],"summary":"Palmswap was a decentralized perpetual futures exchange built on BNB Chain (Binance Smart Chain), launched in 2022 and offering up to 50x leverage trading via its PALM governance token and PLP liquidity provider token. On July 24–25, 2023, the protocol suffered a flash loan price manipulation exploit that drained approximately $901,455 USDT from its liquidity vault due to a critical smart contract logic flaw in the PlpManager contract. The exploiter ultimately returned $721,450 of the stolen funds after bounty negotiations, but the protocol's liquidity partner Gotbit was subsequently indicted and convicted by US federal prosecutors for market manipulation and wire fraud, raising additional integrity concerns about the project's ecosystem.","timeline":[{"date":"2022-09-20","event":"Palmswap holds community fair launch, raising over 6,600 BNB from participants.","source":"CryptoNews","source_url":"https://cryptonews.net/news/market/13677795/"},{"date":"2022-10-25","event":"PALM token reaches its all-time high price of approximately $0.1505.","source":"CoinMarketCap","source_url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/palmswap/"},{"date":"2023-06-27","event":"Palmswap publicly announces partnership with Gotbit Hedge Fund to provide liquidity for V2 launch. Gotbit mints and auto-stakes PLP tokens as part of the launch event.","source":"CoinTelegraph Press Release","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/press-releases/palmswap-secures-partnership-with-gotbit-for-the-palmswap-liquidity-event"},{"date":"2023-07-24","event":"Flash loan exploit begins. Attacker uses 3,000,000 USDT flash loan to exploit a price calculation flaw in the PlpManager contract, draining approximately 901,455 USDT from Palmswap's liquidity vault.","source":"CertiK Incident Analysis","source_url":"https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/6WoTgIL26yP5NZyStcQZps-palmswap-incident-analysis"},{"date":"2023-07-25","event":"SlowMist publishes independent on-chain analysis confirming the exploit mechanics and total loss of over $900,000.","source":"SlowMist via Medium","source_url":"https://slowmist.medium.com/analysis-of-palmswap-incident-c6b5e3eb2815"},{"date":"2023-07-25","event":"Palmswap team acknowledges the exploit publicly and initiates contact with the attacker's wallet address to negotiate a bounty.","source":"Binance Square","source_url":"https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/867128"},{"date":"2023-07-31","event":"Exploiter returns $721,450 to Palmswap following bounty negotiations, retaining approximately $179,505 as an alleged bounty. Roughly 20% of stolen funds are not recovered.","source":"Binance Square","source_url":"https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/867128"},{"date":"2023-11-19","event":"Palmswap holds V2 community update AMA. Team states that user refunds are pending a 'lengthy legal process' and that repayment in USDT is planned but 'nothing final has been determined.' Roadmap for Q1 2024 features announced.","source":"Palmswap via Medium","source_url":"https://palmswap.medium.com/v2-community-update-ama-thursday-november-19th-recap-0f98fc23e0f2"},{"date":"2024-10-09","event":"US DOJ and SEC announce charges against Gotbit Consulting LLC and its founder Aleksei Andriunin for market manipulation and wire fraud conspiracy. Gotbit had been Palmswap's liquidity partner.","source":"SEC Press Release","source_url":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-166"},{"date":"2025-03-01","event":"Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin pleads guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation in US federal court in Boston.","source":"DOJ District of Massachusetts","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-plead-guilty-market"},{"date":"2025-06-01","event":"Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin sentenced to eight months in prison and one year of supervised release; company agrees to forfeit $23 million.","source":"DOJ District of Massachusetts","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"date":"2026-05-01","event":"Palmswap protocol is effectively defunct. Website offline, PALM token trades at approximately $0 with no volume, DappRadar lists the protocol as inactive, and no team communications have been issued.","source":"DappRadar","source_url":"https://dappradar.com/dapp/palmswap/"}]},"v":1}