RaveDAO (RAVE) has lost nearly all of its value in a matter of days, as three of the world’s largest crypto exchanges have launched investigations into alleged market manipulation.
Last week, prominent on-chain investigator ZachXBT sounded the alarm about RaveDAO on X, alleging that the protocol designed to bridge electronic music events with blockchain technology was manipulating the market.
The investigator called out the exchanges where the alleged scheme originated.
“Pump and dump activity for RAVE originated on Bitget, Binance and Gate. Call to action for both Binance and Bitget and GracyBitget to do better and launch an internal investigation, offboarding the responsible actors.”
ZachXBT had flagged concerns about RaveDAO’s insider token concentration days earlier, pointing to the structure of the project as a warning sign. He also initially offered $10,000 of his personal funds to anyone with insider information, subsequently hiking the bounty to $25,000.
“The type of post a team makes while insiders control 90%+ of the supply and manipulate RAVE price on centralized exchanges.”
RaveDAO witnessed a massive rise in market cap, exploding to a valuation of $6 billion in a span of just a few days. At its peak, RAVE was the 15th-largest crypto asset by market cap before ZachXBT’s allegations went viral.
The on-chain investigator’s accusations caught the attention of the three crypto exchanges. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen has confirmed the platform had begun an investigation.
Binance CEO Richard Teng said the exchange was looking into the matter, adding, “We will always do our part to investigate all market misconduct.”
Gate’s Kevin Lee confirmed the platform was reviewing RAVE activity and would “act accordingly.”
Meanwhile, RaveDAO pushed back against the allegations in a statement on X.
“We want to be clear: RaveDAO team is not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action. We take transparency seriously and remain humbled by the attention.”
RAVE lost over 98% of its value, from an all-time high of $28.89 to $0.47 in just a few days. RAVE is currently trading at $0.51.
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