Major cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Bitget have initiated investigations into the trading activities surrounding RaveDAO's RAVE token. This comes after on-chain analyst ZachXBT alleged that insiders manipulated the market, leading to a significant short squeeze that drove the token's rapid price increase.
Bitget's CEO, Gracy Chen, confirmed that the exchange has started investigating the matter, while Binance's CEO, Richard Teng, stated that the platform is also looking into the allegations and will examine signs of market misconduct. Another exchange, Gate, was mentioned in ZachXBT's investigation. A $10,000 bounty has been offered to whistleblowers who can provide evidence about the parties involved.
The RAVE token experienced a massive 4,500% rally over the course of a week, resulting in over $44 million in RAVE positions being liquidated in a single day. The short squeeze highlighted the concentration of RAVE tokens within a small set of wallets, with nearly 90% of its supply held in just three Gnosis Safe wallets at the time.
Investigators also flagged token transfers to exchanges shortly before the rally began, with millions of tokens being moved to exchanges before prices started surging. RaveDAO is a Web3 project focused on electronic music events, offering blockchain-based ticketing and community governance.
The project has hosted events across several regions and reported $3 million in revenue in 2025. However, the token's market behavior has been erratic, trading below $0.50 for most of its history before surging in April. The token's market value briefly exceeded $6 billion at its peak before dropping, and it is now down more than 50% from its peak and 30% over the last 24 hours.
Claims of a 'bait and liquidate' pattern have also emerged, suggesting that visible transfers may be used to create selling pressure, drawing traders into short positions. RaveDAO has addressed the situation, stating that the team is not responsible for the recent price action and plans to liquidate portions of unlocked tokens 'when appropriate.' The project is exploring models that tie team incentives to ecosystem growth but has not committed to any specific mechanism or timeline.