Mercury (MER) Is Running: Pump And Dump Or Real-World Play?

Mercury (MER) is incredibly active in the cryptocurrency space right now. The token, which we will look at in a little more detail shortly, is currently trading at a close to 40% premium to its price 24 hours ago as compares to the US dollar and is up just short of 60% against bitcoin across the same period.Many of the coins at this end of the market have been subject to pump and dump schemes over the last few months and – on the back of these schemes – have jumped to a similar degree as we are seeing in MER right now.With this in mind, we are going to take a look at what's happening with Mercury in an attempt to figure out whether this recent climb is justified or whether it's a pump and dump type move that's likely to turn around nearly as quickly as its started.So, here goes.This is one that many probably won't be familiar with right off the bat and it's a little bit complicated, so stick with us.A company called Darcrus created a cryptocurrency called, unsurprisingly, Darcrus, and did so as an asset on the NXT blockchain. Shortly after setup, Darcrus then built a proprietary blockchain called Waves and transferred the Darcrus tokens over to the Waves chain. MER Daily ChartThe company then created what's called Jupiter, which is a customizable decentralized network (so a private blockchain), again based on the NXT blockchain. The company chose this private blockchain approach because it limits the fees associated with using a public blockchain for businesses wanting to employ Jupiter-based technology. Keep things cheap, people will be drawn to you – that's the idea.But there's a problem.When you use a private blockchain like this, there's an absence of undeniable public proof that nobody has tampered with the data of the private blockchain.The is where Mercury comes in. It's is a Waves-powered provenance token that enables collaborative cross-chain communication and timestamping from the Jupiter blockchain to Waves and Waves to Jupiter. It's designed to automatically timestamp every Jupiter block hash to the Waves blockchain and, by doing so, it provides the non-tamper proof that the private blockchain lacks.So that's the technology and the justification behind the token – what's causing the recent excitement?Well, Mercury just got accepted for listing on Bittrex, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange of its type. This is a major right of passage for a token like this and (nearly) always translates to an inflow of speculative volume as new buyers pile into the token on the thesis that the listing is a validation of the token's potential.On the back of this listing, Darcrus also announced that it will be running what it calls a treasure hunt, through which individuals can win 50,000 MER by taking part in trying to figure out a seed as revealed by various clues spread over a period of days.This, again, looks to be driving some interest in the token and compounding the action we have seen as initiated by the Bittrex listing.This is an important thing to recognize in this space right now. While there is a considerable amount of tokens out there, a large number of these only have slim daily volume and this means it takes very little to get them moving – a couple of BTC worth of buy orders and a coin will run.As such, seemingly minor events such as an exchange listing or some PR stunt performed by the company behind the token have the potential to spark some upside momentum.So going back to our initial question – is this one an operationally driven run or are we looking at a pump and dump?This isn't a pump and dump, that's for sure. With that said, however, whether the driver behind the gains is enough to justify a circa 50% revaluation and, in turn, support said revaluation going forward, remains to be seen.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on MER, sign up below!Image courtesy of DarcrusDisclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.