RAVE Token Plummets 90% in One Day Amid Exchange Investigations

A staggering $5.7 billion in market capitalization vanished within 48 hours, triggered by a 90% crash of RaveDAO's RAVE token over 24 hours. This downturn occurred after Binance and Bitget launched investigations into unusual trading activity 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 is reviewing the matter and will examine signs of market misconduct. Gate.io was also implicated in the initial allegations by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who offered a $25,000 bounty for whistleblowers with evidence. Despite RaveDAO's denial on Saturday, the token's collapse accelerated, with the project posting a six-part X thread claiming the team was not responsible for the recent price action. However, the thread failed to address specific on-chain allegations, including the concentration of roughly 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transfers to exchanges suggested incoming sell pressure, drawing traders into short positions before those tokens were withdrawn and prices rose, forcing shorts to cover at progressively worse levels. RaveDAO, a Web3 entertainment platform, reported $3 million in revenue in 2025 and has partnerships 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.