Binance and Bitget, two main cryptocurrency exchanges, have opened investigations into buying and selling exercise surrounding RaveDAO’s RAVE token, after onchain sleuth ZachXBT alleged insiders engineered a big brief squeeze that drove the token’s speedy rise.
Crypto alternate Bitget’s CEO Gracy Chen said the alternate had “began investigating” the matter, whereas Binance CEO Richard Teng later said publicly that the platform was additionally trying into the claims and would “at all times” do its half to look at indicators of market misconduct. One other alternate, Gate, was additionally talked about in ZachXBT’s investigation.
ZachXBT has additionally personally provided a $10,000 bounty to whistleblowers who come ahead privately to share proof concerning the events concerned.
The little-known challenge rallied earlier within the week, resulting in over $44 million in RAVE positionsmost of which had been bearish, getting liquidated in a single day. These liquidations adopted a 4,500% rally over the course of per week.
Nonetheless, the brief squeeze highlighted the focus of RAVE tokens inside a small set of wallets. In actual fact, practically 90% of its provide was in simply three Gnosis Protected wallets on the time.
Investigators additionally flagged token transfers to exchanges shortly earlier than the rally started. Hundreds of thousands of tokens had been moved to exchanges earlier than costs began surging.
RaveDAO presents itself as a Web3 challenge centered on digital music occasions, providing blockchain-based ticketing and neighborhood governance. It traces its origins to a 2023 afterparty in Istanbul and has since hosted occasions throughout a number of areas. The challenge reported about $3 million in income in 2025.
That footprint contrasts with the token’s market habits. RAVE traded under $0.50 for many of its historical past earlier than surging in April. It jumped from about $0.30 to over $6 in a single day, then climbed previous $27 earlier than beginning to recede.
At its peak, the token’s market worth briefly exceeded $6 billion, inserting it among the many largest cryptocurrencies by market cap earlier than dropping. The token is now down greater than 50% from its peak and 30% during the last 24 hours.
‘Bait and liquidate’
A separate declare facilities on what some describe as a “bait and liquidate” sample. The concept is that seen transfers recommend promoting strain, drawing merchants into brief positions.
If these tokens are later withdrawn whereas costs rise, brief sellers could also be pressured to purchase again at larger costs, driving additional good points for these on the opposite facet of the commerce. These claims stay unproven, however the focus of provide suggests it’s an actual chance.
Neighborhood reports have additionally linked the challenge to figures related to earlier crypto ventures, together with ARPA and Bella Protocol, although these connections haven’t been independently verified. Not one of the people named in these stories has responded publicly.
RaveDAO addressed the state of affairs in a social media threadstating that the group is “not engaged in, nor answerable for, latest worth motion.”
Within the thread, RaveDAO didn’t handle particular onchain allegations, together with provide focus or the hundreds of thousands transferred to exchanges forward of the pump, however confirmed it does plan to liquidate parts of unlocked tokens “when acceptable.”
RaveDAO stated it was “exploring acceptable fashions, together with price-triggered or performance-triggered locks, that tie group incentives to ecosystem progress.” It stopped wanting committing to any particular mechanism or timeline.
CoinDesk has reached out to RaveDAO for feedback.
