RAVE Token Plummets 90% in One Day Amid Exchange Investigations

A staggering $5.7 billion in market capitalization vanished within 48 hours, accompanied by three wallets and a denial. RaveDAO's RAVE token experienced a drastic 90% decline over 24 hours after Binance and Bitget launched investigations into trading activities that propelled the token to a $6 billion market capitalization the previous week. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the investigation on X, while Binance co-CEO Richard Teng stated that the exchange would examine signs of market misconduct. Gate.io was also implicated in the allegations made by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who offered a $25,000 bounty for whistleblowers with evidence. The collapse accelerated following the project's denial on Saturday, which failed to stabilize the situation. RaveDAO posted a six-part thread on X, stating that the team was not responsible for the recent price action, but did not address specific on-chain allegations, including the concentration of 90% of the 1 billion RAVE supply across three Gnosis Safe multi-signature wallets attributed to the team. The original rally saw RAVE surge from $0.25 to $27.33 in nine days, resulting in $44 million in liquidations on Friday. Investigators identified a 'bait and liquidate' pattern, where visible token transfers to exchanges suggested incoming sell pressure, drawing traders into short positions before those tokens were withdrawn and prices skyrocketed. RaveDAO describes itself as a Web3 entertainment platform, reporting $3 million in revenue in 2025 and partnering with Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Polygon. The project confirmed plans to liquidate portions of unlocked tokens to fund operations and marketing, exploring models that tie team incentives to ecosystem growth, but did not commit to a specific lockup mechanism or timeline.