RaveDAO has denied any role in the recent surge and sharp collapse of its RAVE token as major exchanges investigate trading activity amid allegations of market manipulation.
In a thread on X, the project said it was “not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action,” responding to scrutiny after RAVE jumped from roughly $0.25 to nearly $28 within days before plunging more than 80%.
Onchain investigator ZachXBT accused the project of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme, pointing to concentrated token holdings and suspicious exchange flows. He claimed that more than 90% of the token supply may be controlled by insiders and urged exchanges to act.
Both Binance and Bitget confirmed reviews of the situation. “We’re looking into it,” Binance CEO Richard Teng wrote, while Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the exchange had “started investigating” RAVE trading activity.
RaveDAO also outlined plans to sell portions of unlocked tokens to fund operations, marketing and hiring. The team said it is exploring “price-triggered or performance-triggered locks” to better align incentives, adding that “building a movement requires resources” and that it aims to do so “sustainably and transparently.”
RaveDAO is a Web3 entertainment project that combines electronic music events with blockchain technology, aiming to onboard users through real-world festivals and parties. It operates as a decentralized community where attendees receive NFTs for participation, while the RAVE token is used for governance, ticketing and event access.
At the time of writing, RAVE was trading at $1.36, down about 94.95% over the past day, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Separately, Cointelegraph reported a surge in DeFi exploits in April: more than a dozen protocols and crypto firms have been hit in just over two weeks, beginning with the $280 million Drift Protocol attack on April 1. Other affected projects include CoW Swap, Hyperbridge, Bybit, Silo Finance, Aethir and Rhea Finance, with incidents ranging from smart contract bugs and oracle manipulation to access control failures and liquidity pool exploits.
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