Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Asher (@Asher_0210)
In the past week, the cryptocurrency market has almost been dominated by one name—RAVE.
Whether on social media, trading groups, or various market reviews, everyone’s focus, complaints, and even emotional vents almost revolve around it. The reason is simple: the price movements of this coin are exceptionally "crazy." From $0.22, it soared to $28, increasing over a hundred times within just over a week; and just last weekend, the market suddenly reversed, dropping from its high to about $1 in less than 24 hours, a decline of nearly 95%, and it continues to fall.
RAVE token increased over a hundred times in a week
RAVE token dropped nearly 95% in one day
From a sustained surge to an instantaneous collapse, this level of switch not only feels exaggerated but makes it hard to explain using "normal market" terms. Because of this, RAVE quickly evolved from a "crazy coin example" into a focal event for discussions across the entire market. Odaily Planet Daily will conduct a complete review of the entire process from RAVE's surge to its collapse.
A "Short Squeeze" That Lasted a Week
For more than a week, RAVE's price almost consistently climbed, achieving a hundredfold increase. This rise was not steady but unfolded with continuously accelerating and surpassing expectations, making it nearly impossible to find a "reasonable short" position. Thus, a familiar script began to unfold— the higher it rose, the more people wanted to short it.
Looking through community and media comments during this week of rising prices, the vast majority of traders were waiting for a "crash time." The more absurd the price became, the stronger the confidence of the shorts, with many complaining about "absurdity" while continuously increasing their short positions, trying to catch the inevitable turning point. But the reality was that RAVE hardly offered any meaningful adjustment space, with every apparent peak finding itself turning into yet another raising cycle. Even on April 18, the liquidation amount of RAVE exceeded that of BTC in one hour.
Screenshots of "got liquidated again" began to appear frequently in the group. Some chose to increase their positions and hold firm, others continuously cut losses and exited, while some found their losses growing exponentially. Market sentiment shifted from "can this actually rise?" to "when will it finally stop?"
During the rise of RAVE, many users shorted and incurred significant losses
At the same time, more subtle changes were occurring. As the price kept setting new highs, the focus of market discussions began shifting from "where to short" to "how to catch the next RAVE." Some replayed the rhythm of every surge, some fixated on the data trying to summarize trends, while others, fully aware of the irregularities, still couldn't help but participate. The entire market got deeper into this wave of rising under a sentiment of disbelief yet unwillingness to miss out.
While the market was still immersed in this enduring short squeeze frenzy, RAVE's market cap once neared $7 billion. Almost everyone knew that such movements would eventually face a moment of collapse, but no one was certain when or how it would happen.
Ultimately, this turning point did not come from the market itself but from a public naming by on-chain detective ZachXBT.
After ZachXBT's naming, investigations, responses, and the crash occurred simultaneously
On April 18, on a tweet related to the RaveDAO team, on-chain detective ZachXBT publicly named them, marking a turning point in the entire event. At 15:26 (Beijing time) that day, he posted directly accusing RAVE of obvious market manipulation and named Binance, Bitget, and Gate for investigation, while offering a $10,000 reward for insider leads. Hours later, as community participants increased, the reward amount quickly rose to $25,000.
The event quickly fermented. The first response came from Bitget. At 19:18 (Beijing time), Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated: “Thanks for highlighting this issue, we have initiated an investigation into the RAVE token (Thanks for highlighting! We've started investigating into $RAVE).” Confirming that the platform had started a related investigation.
Bitget's response to ZachXBT's accusations against RAVE token
Subsequently, Binance also made a statement. At 22:08 (Beijing time), Binance co-CEO Richard Teng responded: “Thanks for bringing this situation to our attention, we are investigating it and will continue to combat all market misconduct (Thanks for flagging this with us, we’re looking into it. We will always do our part to investigate all market misconduct).”
Binance's response to ZachXBT's accusations against RAVE token
By 00:19 (Beijing time) the next day, Gate also completed its response. Gate Chief Business Officer Kevin Lee stated: “We are already on it. User protection always comes first at Gate. We are reviewing RAVE token's related trading behaviors and will take measures accordingly (Already on it. User protection comes first at Gate. We're reviewing $RAVE activity and will act accordingly).”
Gate's response to ZachXBT's accusations against RAVE token
As this series of responses emerged, RAVE's price began to decline sharply. From initial high fluctuations, the price continuously plummeted, hardly giving the market any reaction time— a trust collapse triggered by public notification was synchronously occurring in prices.
From around $26, it plunged to $1, dropping nearly 95% in just under 24 hours. This "crazy coin," which once neared a market cap of $7 billion, was completely reverted to its original form in one night. Even more shocking is the data comparison subsequently given by ZachXBT: about $6 billion in market cap was erased, but the liquidations within 24 hours were only about $52 million. This highly asymmetric collapse magnitude further magnified the doubts about "overvaluation and price distortion."
“Who is actually making money”: Divided market sentiments
As RAVE rapidly collapsed amid ongoing investigations, the market did not reach a consensus judgment, but rather showed significant division. Some viewed it as a typical "market manipulation harvest," while others believed it was just part of market game theory, albeit this time acted out more extremely.
For some traders, the essence of RAVE has long ceased to be a "normal market." “A coin controlled 99% is not a trade, you are participating in a script. Prices are not organically formed; they are designed by liquidation order.” Under such narrative, so-called trends, technical analysis, and even trading logic lost meaning— what you see are candlesticks, what traders see is who is going bankrupt next. “There is no power of judgment in such a market; you think you’re betting against the market, but you are actually providing liquidity to the market maker.”
However, another voice was equally strong. Some see this event as the most typical black humor of the crypto world: “When it rose 100 times, investigations started; when it plummeted to zero, nobody asked.” “When it rises, it must prove its innocence, but when it collapses, no one takes responsibility.” To them, RAVE is not an exception, but merely magnifies existing problems in the market to an extreme — those projects that continue to decline and eventually go to zero also cause significant losses for many retail investors, yet are rarely scrutinized this intensely.
Some also point fingers at broader structural issues. “Hasn’t the crypto space been a regulatory-free casino for a long time?” From market makers dominating liquidity to pump-and-dump schemes completing a closed loop, so-called "value" has long been marginalized, with attention and funds being the only pricing logic. In such an environment, RAVE is neither the first nor likely the last; it just served to make everyone see the rules themselves more clearly in a more exaggerated way.
Official Response: Denial of Manipulation, Emphasis on "Long-Term Narrative"
Amidst the drastic fluctuations in exchanges and market sentiments, RaveDAO also issued an official response promptly. Their core stance is very clear: they deny involvement in price manipulation and separate the recent sharp price movements from the actions of the team.
RaveDAO stated that the team did not participate in nor are responsible for the recent coin price performance, and emphasized that they have always aimed to "bring Web3 into the real world," attempting to build culture and user connections through offline events. In this expression, the price fluctuations are minimized as external market behavior while positioning the team more as "builders."
At the same time, the project party also offered some degree of response to token-related issues. They stated that in the future, they would indeed sell some unlocked tokens at the appropriate time for operations, recruitment, market expansion, and other development expenditures, but they will explore mechanisms including price or performance triggers to bind long-term interests with the community.
In tone, this statement deliberately avoided short-term market sentiments, pulling the narrative back to "long-term construction" and "real-world implementation." From "driving large-scale adoption of Web3" to "connecting the world through music and events," and committing to donating part of profits for public welfare, RaveDAO attempts to portray a project vision that transcends price fluctuations.
At the same time the statement emphasizing "long-term construction" and "real-world implementation" was released, RaveDAO held an offline event called "Dim Sum Rave" on the evening of April 18 in Central Hong Kong.
Announcement of RaveDAO's offline event in Hong Kong
However, in the crypto world, RAVE's price continued to plummet, sliding down from its high without pause. On one side, the offline event proceeded as scheduled, crowds continued to revel in the music; on the other side, prices completed an almost zeroing dive in a short time, market sentiment rapidly cooled. Two timelines intersected on the same night, forming a stark contrast that could not be ignored.
Because of this, the description of an event scheduled for "April 18, come here to dance the last dance" gained an additional layer of meaning in the eyes of many market participants. As for who truly finished "the last dance" that night, perhaps only the candlestick left on the chart keeps giving different answers.
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