RAVE Token Plummets 90% in One Day Amid Exchange Investigations

A dramatic turn of events unfolded over 48 hours, with three wallets and a denial contributing to a $5.7 billion loss in market capitalization. RaveDAO's RAVE token experienced a 90% decline in 24 hours after Binance and Bitget launched investigations into trading activities that propelled the token to a $6 billion market cap. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Binance co-CEO Richard Teng confirmed the probes, with the latter stating that the exchange would examine signs of market misconduct. Gate.io was also implicated in the original allegations by onchain investigator ZachXBT, who offered a $25,000 bounty for whistleblowers. Despite RaveDAO's denial, the collapse accelerated, and the project's statement failed to address specific onchain allegations, including the concentration of 90% of the 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, triggering $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transfers to exchanges suggested incoming sell pressure, drawing traders into short positions before those tokens were withdrawn and prices rose, forcing shorts to cover at progressively worse levels. RaveDAO, a Web3 entertainment platform, reported $3 million in 2025 revenue and has partnerships with Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Polygon. The project plans to liquidate portions of unlocked tokens to fund operations and marketing and is exploring lockup models that tie team incentives to ecosystem growth.