Following allegations of insider-orchestrated price manipulation, major cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Bitget have initiated investigations into the trading activity surrounding RaveDAO's RAVE token. The token experienced a remarkable 4,500% surge in value over the course of a week, resulting in the liquidation of over $44 million in bearish positions. The sudden price increase has raised suspicions, with nearly 90% of the token's supply being held in just three Gnosis Safe wallets and millions of tokens being transferred to exchanges shortly before the rally began.
RaveDAO, a Web3 project focused on electronic music events, has stated that it is not responsible for the recent price action, but the concentration of token supply and large transfers to exchanges have sparked claims of a 'bait and liquidate' scheme. The project is exploring options to tie team incentives to ecosystem growth, but has not committed to a specific mechanism or timeline.