RAVE shocker: token plunges 95% as scrutiny intensifies

RaveDAO’s RAVE token fell sharply over the past two days, dropping from $26 to below $1 and extending losses on Monday. 

Data cited in the report showed the token lost about 95% on Sunday before falling more than 60% again in the following 24 hours.

The decline followed public calls for an investigation by on-chain investigator ZachXBT. On April 18, he asked Binance, Bitget, and Gate.io to review suspected market manipulation tied to RAVE. He first offered a $10,000 bounty for information and later raised it to $25,000 the same day.

ZachXBT said he had contacted RaveDAO co-founder Yemu Xu on April 13 and April 14 about his concerns but did not receive a response before the token collapsed. He later shared findings that linked the project’s early token distribution to a small group of wallets.

According to his review, addresses tied to the initial distribution controlled about 95% of RAVE’s 1 billion token supply. He also flagged activity involving wallets connected to Bitget and Gate.io deposit addresses. ZachXBT said the scale of the sell-off looked unusual when compared with liquidation data across the market.

Meanwhile, Bitget publicly responded to the request for an investigation within hours. Binance and Gate.io also acknowledged the calls later in the day. At the same time, RaveDAO said it had no role in the recent price movement.

In a later update, ZachXBT said a multisig wallet linked to the initial distribution moved about 23 million RAVE, worth around $23 million, to two Bitget deposit addresses. After that transfer, the token’s price dropped below $0.60. 

He also wrote that roughly $6 billion in market value was erased while 24-hour liquidations stood near $52 million, which he described as a sign of an unstable market structure.

RaveDAO denies involvement as wider scrutiny grows

RaveDAO issued a public response rejecting claims that it drove the price move. The team said it was ”not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action.” It also addressed claims about token control, though it did not confirm the figures mentioned by ZachXBT.

The team added that it aims to act ”sustainably and transparently” as it builds its platform. Meanwhile, ZachXBT said similar price patterns have appeared in other tokens, including SIREN, MYX, COAI, M, PIPPIN, and RIVER. He also said he held no trading position in RAVE and that the bounty for verified information remains open.

At the time of writing, RAVE traded at $0.64 with a 24-hour trading volume of $297.6 million. The token was down 46% over 24 hours, leaving it with a market capitalization of about $161.3 million.