Crypto Exchanges Investigate $6B RAVE Token Collapse After Alleged Manipulation Warnings

Crypto exchanges Binance, Gate.io, and Bitget have reportedly launched investigations into the $6 billion collapse of RaveDAO’s RAVE token over the weekend. The live music-themed token had seen its daily trading volume exceed $300 million ahead of its all-time high on Saturday, April 18, 2026, with a market capitalization of $6.7 billion and a price of $27.

This surge was short-lived, as the token plummeted by -97% in the days that followed. Before the collapse, on-chain investigator ZachXBT had issued warnings about potential pump-and-dump activity involving RAVE insiders trading the token on Binance, Bitget, and Gate.io.

ZachXBT accused RaveDAO of manipulating the token’s price by controlling over 90% of its supply, which was allocated to three wallets linked to the project’s team. He shared a timeline of events, including a call to action for exchanges to investigate:

April 18, 2026
7:26 am UTC: ZachXBT posted a call for Binance, Bitget, and Gate.io to investigate RAVE market manipulation, offering a $10,000 bounty.
10:56 am UTC: He shared additional evidence and urged faster exchange intervention.

ZachXBT later increased the bounty to $25,000 for whistleblowers to provide evidence about the involved parties. OXK CEO Star Xu contributed an additional $25,000 to the bounty fund.

Following ZachXBT’s warnings, executives from the exchanges responded:

• Binance co-CEO Richard Teng
• Bitget CEO Gracy Chen
• Gate.io CBO Kevin Lee

All three announced investigations into the token’s collapse. However, ZachXBT criticized the response time, stating:

“Exchanges need faster intervention on manipulation.”
“While it’s good the exchanges responded, I find it unlikely this activity wasn’t spotted internally before I raised it publicly.”

The token had already begun its downward spiral by the time the exchanges announced their investigations.

RaveDAO Denies Responsibility for Token Collapse

RaveDAO is a music venue project that distributed NFTs at its events while donating a portion of proceeds to charities. In a statement issued after the token’s collapse, RaveDAO claimed its team “is not engaged in, nor responsible for, recent price action.” It also announced plans to liquidate some unlocked tokens “based on TRS” to fund operations, global hiring, marketing, strategic acquisitions, and philanthropic efforts.

Key Figures Behind RaveDAO

A Solana user, @FabianoSolana, identified three major figures behind RaveDAO:

• Yemu Xu – Co-founder of ARPA Network and Bella Protocol; ambassador for Ocean Geographic magazine.
• Felix Xu – Also co-founded ARPA Network and Bella Protocol; his X (formerly Twitter) posts are currently private.
• Ronald Elliot Yung – Core contributor; has not posted on X since February 2026.

ZachXBT attempted to contact Yemu Xu on X days before the collapse but received no response.