ZachXBT slams Bitget execs over suspicious $480M withdrawals
Crypto sleuth ZachXBT claims that Bitget executives are allowing “scams to operate behind the scenes” after 10 new wallets withdrew $480 million worth of LAB from the exchange.
The staggering sum, which represented 32% of the LAB supply, was withdrawn over the course of 12 hours. The token’s issuer, also called LAB, is a crypto trading infrastructure firm that claims to boast an “AI research engine.”
Fellow crypto investigator Specter Analyst claims to have tracked the LAB team depositing millions of dollars worth of the token to Bitget.
It said this all took place before a price pump in early May, leading them to suspect that LAB is a major coordinated pump-and-dump scheme that Bitget is profiting from.
Today, ZachXBT claimed that Bitget’s founder, Shawn Liu, is the exchange’s “big boss” and is helping the alleged scams. Bitget’s CEO, Gracy Chen, was otherwise described as the public face of operations.
Read more: Bitget suspended in Singapore for refusing to remove BTS-themed coin
ZachXBT called the crypto exchange a “cartel” and claimed that it “has gone unchallenged for years and doesn’t care as long as they benefit from the activity.”
The investigator added that it’s almost time for an increase in “public attacks” against the exchange.
ZachXBT previously put up a $10,000 bounty for anyone with insider details relating to LAB’s founder Vova Sadkov, and the listings of LAB on Bitget spot and perps across Bybit, Binance, and OKX.
He said, “These grifters are further hurting the industry reputation and it must not go unpunished.”
April also saw suspicious crypto listings on Bitget
Bitget is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world and processed over $1 billion worth of trading volume in the last week. It claims to have no specific headquarters and has set up regional hubs across the globe.
Last month, Bitget-listed token $RAVE also raised suspicions of insider trading after its trading volume exceeded $300 million and its price plummeted 97% within days.
Multiple exchanges said they would investigate the listing, including Bitget, but ZachXBT wasn’t impressed with the response time.
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On May 7, 20 days after Chen promised Bitget would investigate the $RAVE listing, ZachXBT noted that there is yet to be an update on the $RAVE investigation.
In 2021, the exchange was suspended by Singapore regulators for refusing to delist a token that was themed around the South Korean boy band BTS and used unlicensed images.
Protos has reached out to Bitget for comment on the LAB listing and will update this piece should we hear anything back.
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