RaveDAO’s RAVE Loses $6.6B After Exchange Probes

RaveDAO’s RAVE token lost roughly $6.6 billion in market value over a weekend after blockchain investigator ZachXBT urged Binance, Bitget and Gate to investigate suspected price manipulation.

The token’s market capitalization fell about 98% from its weekend peak to roughly $150 million. Price per token dropped from an all-time high of $27.33 to about $0.56.

Trading that weekend coincided with about $52 million in liquidations over 24 hours. Blockchain analytics show wallets linked to RaveDAO sent about $24 million worth of RAVE to Bitget on Sunday. Addresses associated with RAVE’s initial distribution controlled roughly 95% of the token supply.

Bitget posted that it had opened an investigation. Binance chief Richard Teng and Gate executive Kevin Lee indicated their firms would review the trading activity. As of Monday, none of the exchanges had released findings.

RaveDAO posted a brief response that it “is not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action.” ZachXBT described the token’s earlier valuation as “a manipulated and unsustainable valuation” and urged faster exchange intervention to protect traders.

RAVE launched in December and is available on Ethereum, Binance’s BNB Chain and Base. The project markets the token for buying event tickets, participating in NFT drops and establishing local chapters. The project has promoted events in Lisbon and Hong Kong and announced a partnership to use a USD1 stablecoin for ticketing in South Korea.

Community discussion on RaveDAO’s Discord focused on the prices members paid during the surge. Traders who had long positions during the peak faced heavy liquidations as the price collapsed.

Investigations by exchanges and on-chain sleuthing are ongoing. Representatives for the project and the platforms had not provided additional comment. Trading platforms will determine whether listing or trading rules were violated and whether affected traders will receive guidance or remediation.