Last week, Genius Group (NYSEMKT:GNS) announced that its board had approved the creation of an Illegal Trading Task Force to investigate market manipulation and naked short selling. Shortly after, Helbiz (NASDAQ:HLBZ) CEO Salvatore Palella tweeted that he would join the #NakedShortWar in the fight against market manipulation.
Now, Creatd (OTCMKTS:CRTD) and its CEO Jeremy Frommer are getting involved as well with the creation of CEOBLOC. The activist trader community seeks to draw attention to naked short selling, explaining that:
“Wall Street traders have the ability to sell naked shorts repeatedly, effectively counterfeiting shares to flood the market with excess supply. This allows them to manipulate the stock price. Eventually, short sellers are supposed to purchase shares to fulfill the sales they made. But if the price is ‘too high,’ Wall Street traders can choose to fail to deliver the shares and set a new delivery date using regulatory loopholes.”
CRTD Stock: Creatd Launches CEOBLOC
CEOBLOC also offers participants a chance to become founding members. For $20 per month or $200 per year, members will receive a CEOBLOC T-shirt; access to exclusive articles, chats and conference calls; and an invitation to the 2023 CEOBLOC conference, which has not been scheduled yet.
According to Fintel, a total of 1.66 million shares of CRTD failed to be delivered last month. The website also notes that failure to deliver (FTD) spiked higher beginning in late October. Meanwhile, there are currently 311,798 shares of CRTD sold short, which only accounts for 0.83% of the public float.
For shareholders of CRTD, the big question remains: Who is responsible for the decline in price? Can it be attributed to naked short sellers, or is it just the result of company financials?
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Creatd reported net revenue of approximately $3.99 million, up from $2.89 million year-over-year. However, net loss increased to $25.11 million from $24.94 million. For 2022, Creatd expects about $5 million in net revenue. For 2023, the company forecasts net revenue to be between $8 million and $12 million in revenue.
Frommer remains optimistic. For the current year, he has a goal of reducing operational expenses, stabilizing revenue and uplisting CRTD.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
