Coinbase’s Acquisition of Tensor’s Vector Reeks of Insider Trading

The reasons behind suspicious trading activity on $TNSR have been confirmed, with Coinbase announcing its acquisition of Tensor’s onchain trading terminal, Vector.

Wallets tied to Tensor’s Treasury have been flagged for purchasing $33k worth of $TNSR tokens leading up to the announcement, selling as speculation pushed $TNSR prices not seen since March 2025.

But $33k is hardly enough to shift the price of an asset with a 9-figure valuation, suggesting that insider trading may have occurred on offchain exchanges. Coinbase, on the other side of the deal, is also no stranger to finding members of its staff abusing their insider knowledge to make profitable trades.

$TNSR Pumps 8x in Days Leading Up to Announcement

Traders’ suspicions toward $TNSR in recent days have been proven correct, as the previously stagnant token soared over 700% in a matter of days amidst otherwise devastating market conditions.

Market data suggests insiders began aggressively accumulating $TNSR from the 19th of November, pushing its valuation from $33M to a peak of $283M within 36 hours. On November 21, Coinbase announced its acquisition of Vector, Tensor’s memecoin trading application, finally providing some much-needed context for the suspicious price action.

While most of $TNSR’s trading volume was processed on centralized exchanges, which is difficult to track publicly, wallets linked to Tensor have been flagged on suspicion of insider trading.

One wallet, ending in xbfb, has received recurring monthly $TNSR transfers vested from the Tensor Treasury and is assumed to be either a member of the team or an early investor. On November 15, xbfb spent ~$33k to purchase 725.8k $TNSR. On November 20, xbfb liquidated its entire holdings, at the peak of $TNSR’s run to a $280M valuation.

Unfortunately for this insider, trade execution was far from their strength. The trader attempted to exit their position in one transaction through Phantom’s swap feature, losing ~$120k to slippage. xbfb has since withdrawn all funds to Coinbase. (Credit: DefiSolar)

SolanaFloor has engaged the Tensor team for comment on the matter, but has yet to receive a response.

Coinbase Admin No Stranger to Insider Trading Accusations

Despite the clumsy behavior of this onchain insider, it would seem that the vast majority of insider trading occurred on centralized exchanges. CoinmarketCap data suggests $TNSR witnessed over $350M in volume over a 24-hour period on November 19, with only $30M of that figure happening in onchain markets. In the week prior, $TNSR’s 24-hour trading volume hovered between $5-6M.

Given that Coinbase is the firm acquiring Tensor’s Vector app, it doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to assume that members of staff may have abused that knowledge to generate profit.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Coinbase has been involved in an insider trading scandal. In 2023, former Coinbase Product Manager Ishan Wahi was sentenced to two years in prison for passing on sensitive listing information to his accomplices.

Despite Coinbase’s direct tie to the acquisition in question, exchange data suggests that the majority of $TNSR’s pre-anonuncement trading actually happened on Binance. In the hourly candle (11:00 AM UTC, Nov 20) preceding $TNSR’s surge to its local high, Binance processed over 3.6M in hourly trading volume, compared to Coinbase’s $1.86M.

Given that Exchanges keep KYC records of all their accounts and traders, Coinbase and Binance should both be able to identify individuals who may have been privy to insider knowledge.

Tensor Foundation Acquires Tensor Marketplace

Further complicating the developing story, the Tensor Foundation has also announced its acquisition of the Tensor NFT Marketplace and the Tensorian NFT collection. As of today, these products will be stewarded by the community-governed Tensor Foundation. Tensor co-founders Richard Wu and Ilja Moisejevs have committed to staying on as part of the Foundation’s ‘Security Council’.

Unsurprisingly, the move has left $TNSR and Tensorian NFT holders deeply confused about the way things unfolded. After championing Vector as its new flagship product and attributing its revenues to the Tensor treasury, Tensor Labs has effectively jettisoned $TNSR into the “community-owned” ether.

While getting acquired by Coinbase is undoubtedly a good result for the Tensor Labs team, the platform’s supporters are dissatisfied with how their faith has been repaid.

At press time, no one from Tensor Labs or Coinbase has addressed or issued a statement on the outstanding allegations of insider trading.

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