A blockchain investigator, ZachXBT, has come forward with allegations that the team behind RaveDAO is aware of the individual or group responsible for manipulating the price of its token, which experienced an unprecedented 11,000% surge before rapidly collapsing. The investigator cited "suspicious" activity on centralized crypto exchanges linked to RaveDAO team addresses as evidence. This activity, which occurred on April 26, may contradict recent statements made by RaveDAO. In a separate finding, ZachXBT identified a transfer of roughly $23 million worth of tokens from a RAVE address used for initial distribution by RaveDAO to two Bitget deposit addresses, resulting in a 40% price drop.
RaveDAO had previously denied any involvement in the recent price fluctuations, stating that the team was "not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action." However, ZachXBT argues that given the concentrated supply of tokens, it is unlikely that the team is unaware of who is responsible for the price manipulation. The investigator also expressed skepticism that the token's price could have increased so dramatically in just nine days without any utility, suggesting that the team's handling of the initial distribution makes it improbable that they do not know who is behind the price action. The RaveDAO token's price had risen from approximately $0.25 to $27.33 before plummeting over 90% and losing around $5.7 billion in market capitalization within 48 hours.
Its current price is around $0.67. ZachXBT also noted that RAVE is not the only token to have experienced manipulation on major centralized exchanges, but rather the most blatant example.