LONDON/WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Coinbase International (COIN.O) has eliminated ‘easy methods to purchase’ directions for at the least three crypto tokens which have been the topic of ‘rug pull’ warnings that traders might lose their cash, saying on Thursday it plans to enhance safeguards.

Jaclyn Gross sales, a spokesperson for Coinbase, mentioned the hyperlinks had been faraway from the cryptocurrency change’s web site after they had been dropped at its consideration this week by Reuters. There would even be an improve in safeguards on its auto-created webpages, she mentioned.

Nasdaq-listed Coinbase options pages providing recommendations on investing in tokens and the pages in query had been informational somewhat than making them out there to commerce on its app or pockets.

Gross sales mentioned the pages, which contained a disclaimer that the knowledge was not funding recommendation and that the change was not responsible for “errors and delays”, had been created routinely from data carried by information web site CoinMarketCap.

CoinMarketCap mentioned it was not conscious of the Coinbase pages and its vice-president of development and operations Shaun Heng mentioned there was not a partnership with Coinbase.

Gross sales mentioned it was not clear whether or not Coinbase ran checks on the cash whose data pages it eliminated. Coinbase would “construct a extra sturdy disclaimer for the pages that are being auto-created,” the change informed Reuters on Thursday through electronic mail.

Coinbase would additionally “construct a course of to take down another pages which CoinMarketCap has flagged as doubtlessly being scams,” it mentioned, including that “belongings which relate to recognized scams weren’t tradeable on the change”.

‘RUG PULLS’

One web page eliminated by Coinbase featured DeFi100 and informed customers to test CoinMarketCap to search out out the place it might be purchased.

Nevertheless, the DeFi100 web page on CoinMarketCap warns: “We now have acquired a number of stories that this undertaking has exited as a rip-off. Please train warning.”

CoinMarketCap, which doesn’t promote cryptocurrencies on its web site, says DeFi100’s tokens haven’t recorded any every day buying and selling volumes since Nov. 14.

DeFi100’s web site and Medium weblog web page are offline. Its final tweet was in Could final 12 months.

CoinMarketCap didn’t reply to requests for touch upon DeFi100 or its warning.

Twitter customers alleged in Could that DeFi100 had carried out a “rug pull”, the place traders deposit cash in phoney tasks earlier than a coin’s builders make off with the funds. learn extra

DeFi100 denied the allegations in one among its final tweets, on Could 23. Acknowledging traders had suffered losses, it mentioned it hoped to “carry the undertaking again on its toes”.

It didn’t reply to Reuters requests for remark.

‘MERCENARY’

Coinbase additionally took down a web page that includes a token known as Mercenary which, like DeFi100, was not out there on Coinbase’s app or pockets.

Mercenary launched in January, hitting a excessive of just about $20. However on Jan. 26 it fell inside minutes from simply over $8 to a fraction of a cent and its value has not since recovered, CoinMarketCap information reveals.

Blockchain safety agency PeckShield tweeted on Jan. 26 that Mercenary had been hit by a rug pull and warned patrons off it.

Reuters couldn’t contact Mercenary, whereas its web site and Twitter web page are each offline.

It’s unclear when Coinbase launched its web page on Mercenary, which archived webpages present CoinMarketCap first featured on Jan. 15. CoinMarketCap didn’t reply to a query on whether or not it had taken Mercenary off its system.

Coinbase has additionally taken down a web page on a token named after Squid Recreation which crashed to virtually zero in November in what cyber safety specialists mentioned was one other rug pull. It additionally was not out there on Coinbase’s app or pockets. learn extra

The web site and Medium account behind the SQUID token had been shortly taken offline after the undertaking unravelled and stay down. Twitter additionally suspended the undertaking’s account, saying that it violated the community’s guidelines.

The builders behind SQUID mentioned on Telegram in November that they had been abandoning the token, saying “somebody is attempting to hack our undertaking”.

Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Hannah Lang in Washington; Modifying by Alexander Smith

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.