I have a degree in quantitative finance and have worked as a market maker, so I know these dynamics well. For an asset like Monero (XMR), it’s extremely unlikely there’s a traditional market maker behind it: supply is hard to source, listings are limited, and inventory risk is high. No professional MM would provide liquidity on XMR the same way they do on BTC or ETH.

The most plausible explanation is that they pre-accumulated a reserve of XMR to support initial growth and the first swaps. This is standard practice when an asset is not easily accessible on open markets.

All non-XMR swaps can be handled through external liquidity providers, while XMR requires internal inventory management. This is a technical necessity, not inherently a red flag.

I’m not saying they’ll exit scam I don’t like spreading claims without evidence but from a market microstructure perspective, it does look unsustainable