The token called RAVE, which rapidly gained value in the cryptocurrency market last week, has caused serious losses for investors in the last 48 hours. Following massive movements from just three wallets and allegations of market manipulation, RAVE lost 90% of its value. The total market value decreased by 5.7 billion dollars in 48 hours.
It rose and then it collapsed
RAVE, offered by RaveDAO, started at around $0.25 last week and jumped to $27.33 in 9 days. During this rapid rise, the token increased by a record 10,800%. This move, which particularly hit investors taking short positions, created a liquidation of $44 million in RAVE transactions on Friday. This rate ranked third, right after bitcoin and ether transactions.
During this short-term increase, on-chain data analysts observed a large amount of token transfers from certain wallets to exchanges. These transactions led many investors to take short positions in anticipation of selling pressure in the market. However, when the transferred tokens were withdrawn from the market, prices rose again and serious losses occurred for short positions.
Questions grew, stock markets took action
Controversial price movements resonated in the cryptocurrency world. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed on the X platform that the exchange has begun investigating the issue. Binance manager Richard Teng similarly stated that they are jointly conducting investigations against the possibility of market manipulation. On-chain researcher ZachXBT also announced a reward of $ 25 thousand to reveal those who played a role in this incident.
The name of the Gate.io exchange was also mentioned in the researchers’ first claims. In particular, the fact that approximately 90% of the total 1 billion tokens were collected in only three Gnosis Safe wallets and their connection with the team’s transactions raised question marks.
RaveDAO stated in its post on social media that the team is not responsible for the recent price fluctuations. However, there was no direct response to the on-chain allegations at the center of the debate.
Who is RaveDAO, how do the operations work?
RaveDAO defines itself as an entertainment platform using Web3 infrastructure. It ensures that tickets are sold on-chain, especially for electronic music events. The early origins of the project begin with an afterparty held in Istanbul in 2023. They state that they target approximately $3 million in revenue for 2025 and that they have collaborations with big names such as Binance, OKX, Bitget and Polygon.
The team also announced that it may sell some of the unlocked tokens for operations and marketing if needed. Additionally, the team announced that they have discovered new locking mechanisms that tie their incentives to the growth of the ecosystem and are based on price or performance triggers. However, no firm commitments have been made regarding a new locking method or timeline at this time.
While the RAVE price rapidly lost value following the developments, the stock exchanges initiated a joint investigation and the findings of the chain analysts further deepened the discussions. Indirect statements from the project team do not seem to be enough to rebuild the trust of the community.
