RAVE Token Plunges 90% in 24 Hours Amid Exchange Investigations

A staggering $5.7 billion in market capitalization vanished in just 48 hours, triggered by a 90% crash of the RAVE token following investigations into unusual trading patterns by Binance and Bitget. The token's price had skyrocketed to a $6 billion market cap the previous week, prompting onchain investigator ZachXBT to raise concerns, which were later followed by a $25,000 bounty offer for whistleblowers with evidence of the parties involved. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and Binance co-CEO Richard Teng confirmed the probes, with the latter stating that the exchange would always examine signs of market misconduct. Gate.io was also implicated in the allegations. Despite RaveDAO's denial of any wrongdoing, the token's price continued to plummet, with the team stating that they were not responsible for the recent price action in a six-part X thread. However, the thread failed to address specific onchain allegations, including the concentration of 90% of the 1 billion RAVE supply across three Gnosis Safe multi-signature wallets attributed to the team, and the transfer of millions of tokens to exchanges before the rally. The original rally saw RAVE surge from $0.25 to $27.33 in just nine days, resulting in $44 million in liquidations on Friday, mostly from short sellers. Investigators identified a 'bait and liquidate' pattern, where visible token transfers to exchanges suggested sell pressure, only to be withdrawn and trigger a price surge, forcing shorts to cover at unfavorable levels. RaveDAO, a Web3 entertainment platform offering onchain ticketing for electronic music events, reported $3 million in revenue in 2025 and claims partnerships with major players like Binance, OKX, Bitget, and Polygon. The team announced plans to liquidate portions of unlocked tokens to fund operations and marketing, exploring lockup models that tie team incentives to ecosystem growth, but failed to commit to a specific mechanism or timeline.