The crypto market is hot. But is it an illusion?

This NPR Planet Money Indicator podcast episode discusses wash trading in the cryptocurrency market. The episode explains wash trading—the practice of artificially inflating trading volume to create a false impression of market activity—and details how it's evolved from simple ledger manipulation ("wash trading 1.0") to more sophisticated methods using bots and incentivized trading programs ("wash trading 2.0" and "wash trading 3.0"). The podcast highlights a U.S. Department of Justice sting operation, "Operation Token Mirrors," which targeted individuals and companies engaged in wash trading, and discusses the challenges regulators face in policing this activity, even with large platforms like Binance employing strategies that blur the lines of legality.