ZachXBT accuses Bitget founder Shawn Liu of enabling scams

Pseudonymous investigator ZachXBT has accused Bitget founder Shawn Liu of enabling scam and market-manipulation activity on the exchange. In a Bitget review of the allegations, he linked the claim to on-chain transfers of about 96 million LAB tokens into Bitget before a sharp price increase in early May and warned he may escalate action against what he called a “Chinese CEX cartel.”

LAB rose more than 350% over a 72-hour period in early May. On-chain records cited by ZachXBT show wallets associated with the LAB team moved roughly 96 million LAB, valued at about $63 million at the time, into Bitget ahead of the rally. ZachXBT identified LAB founder Vova Sadkov, also known on-chain as vsadkovv, as the architect of an alleged coordinated pump and offered a $10,000 bounty for definitive proof tying him to manipulation.

ZachXBT posted on X accusing exchanges of profiting from fees generated by manipulated tokens and directly challenged Bitget leadership. He wrote, “Shawn Liu is the Bitget big boss who allows these scams to operate behind the scenes while Gracy Chen is only the face of it.” He also posted, “CEXs need to freeze MM profits and distribute to users (victims) when these games happen.”

ZachXBT has previously published investigations that linked the Lazarus Group to the $625 million Ronin Bridge theft and uncovered multiple multi‑million and nine‑figure token frauds. His past work has been followed closely in crypto communities. South Korea also previously linked hacker group Lazarus to the Upbit $30.4 million hack.

The “Chinese CEX cartel” label refers to a group of Asia-based centralized exchanges that ZachXBT says profit from inflated trading volumes tied to insider-coordinated tokens. He argues regulators have not intervened decisively against the pattern.

Observers track large on-chain transfers into exchanges because they can precede rapid price moves. On-chain transparency lets analysts follow token flows, but such records do not by themselves prove intent or coordination, and exchanges often handle the conversion of suspicious volume into fiat or other assets.