A list of academic papers and other resources with respect to various schemes and scams in the crypto space.
👉 Click on the little i with the circle around it (bottom left) to find out when this page was last updated.Cryptocurrency and its susceptibility to speculative bubbles, manipulation, scams and fraud (2018)
Sex, drugs, and Bitcoin: How much illegal activity is financed through cryptocurrencies? (2019)
Fraud on the Crypto Market (2022)
Decrypting financial stability risks in crypto-asset markets (European Central Bank) (2022)
Fraud: A Growing Problem in the Crypto Markets (2022)
Crypto hype is down, but crypto fraud is proliferating (2023)
Canadians are losing millions in crypto to fraudsters. Here is how to spot red flags (2024)
Cryptocurrency fraud is now the riskiest scam for consumers, according to BBB (2024)
Crypto Regulation: Who Will Protect Consumers Against Fraud? (2025)
Initial coin offerings, information disclosure, and fraud (2021)
Trade or Trick? Detecting and Characterizing Scam Tokens on Uniswap Decentralized Exchange (2021)
Don't trust, verify: The economics of scams in initial coin offerings (2022)
The devil is in the details: a taxonomy of red flags of fraudulent initial coin offering projects (2024)
Do Not Rug on Me: Leveraging Machine Learning Techniques for Automated Scam Detection (2022)
Stop Pulling my Rug: Exposing Rug Pull Risks in Crypto Token to Investors (2023)
Understanding Rug Pulls: An In-Depth Behavioural Analysis of Fraudulent NFT Creators (2023)
SoK: Comprehensive Analysis of Rug Pull Causes, Datasets, and Detection Tools in DeFi (2024)
The Kosmosis Use-Case of Crypto Rug Pull Detection and Prevention (2024)
A Taxonomy of Anti-Fraud Measures within Token Economy: Insights from Rug Pull Schemes (2024)Â
Rug Pull Detection on Decentralized Exchanges Using Transaction Data (2025)
The Anatomy of a Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Scheme (2019)
An examination of the cryptocurrency pump-and-dump ecosystem (2021)
A New Wolf in Town? Pump-and-Dump Manipulation in Cryptocurrency Markets (2022)
Cryptocurrency Pump-and-Dump Schemes (2023)
The Doge of Wall Street: Analysis and Detection of Pump and Dump Cryptocurrency Manipulations (2023)
Pump and Dumps in the Bitcoin Era: Real Time Detection of Cryptocurrency Market Manipulations (2024)
Market Manipulation of Bitcoin: Evidence from Mining the Mt. Gox Transaction Network (2019)
Cryptocurrency Market Manipulation: A Systematic Literature Review (2021)
Crypto Wash Trading (2023)
The legal risks for investors due to market manipulation in the cryptocurrency market (2024)
Market Manipulation of Cryptocurrencies: Evidence from Social Media and Transaction Data (2024)
The invisible politics of Bitcoin: governance crisis of a decentralised infrastructure (2016)
Guiding Principles for Ethical Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and DLT Research (2020)
DeFi risks and the decentralisation illusion (2021)
Blockchain Governance: De Facto (x)or Designed? (2021)
Deconstructing 'Decentralization': Exploring the Core Claim of Crypto Systems (2021)
In Code(rs) We Trust: Software Developers as Fiduciaries in Public Blockchains (2021)
From Centralized to Decentralized Finance: The Issue of 'Fake-DeFi' (2021)
On DeFi and On-Chain CeFi: How (Not) to Regulate Decentralized Finance (2024)
Blockchain Governance in the Wild (2024)Â
Decentralized Governance: Examples, Risks, Benefits, and Applications (2025)
The new Scams Prevention Framework (2025) (excellent!) (Detailed explanation here)
Financial and Consumer Services Commission (New Brunswick)
Autorité des marchés financiers (Quebec)
British Columbia Securities Commission
Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (Saskatchewan)
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization
Securities and Exchange Commission
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (California)
Financial Conduct Authority (UK)
London Metropolitan Police (also here)