Following allegations of insider-orchestrated price manipulation, Binance and Bitget have begun investigating the trading activity surrounding RaveDAO's RAVE token. The probe was sparked by on-chain analyst ZachXBT, who claimed that insiders engineered a large short squeeze, resulting in the token's rapid price increase. Bitget's CEO, Gracy Chen, confirmed the exchange's investigation, while Binance's CEO, Richard Teng, stated that the platform would examine signs of market misconduct. Another exchange, Gate, was also implicated in ZachXBT's investigation.
A $10,000 bounty has been offered by ZachXBT for whistleblowers to come forward with evidence. The RAVE token's price surged by 4,500% over the course of a week, resulting in over $44 million in liquidations. However, the token's supply was heavily concentrated, with nearly 90% held in just three Gnosis Safe wallets.
Millions of tokens were transferred to exchanges shortly before the price surge, raising suspicions of potential market manipulation. RaveDAO, a Web3 project focused on electronic music events, has reported $3 million in revenue in 2025. The project's token, RAVE, had traded below $0.50 for most of its history before the sudden surge. At its peak, the token's market value briefly exceeded $6 billion, but has since dropped by over 50%.
Claims of a 'bait and liquidate' pattern have also emerged, suggesting that visible transfers may have been used to lure traders into short positions, only to later withdraw the tokens and drive up the price. RaveDAO has denied any involvement in the price manipulation, stating that the team is 'not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action.' The project has announced plans to liquidate portions of unlocked tokens 'when appropriate' and is exploring models to tie team incentives to ecosystem growth.