Recently, a quite shady case in the crypto market has come to light that’s worth analyzing. On April 13th, the RAVE token went from trading at $0.3 to $6.2 within hours, a jump of about 20 times that raised all sorts of alarms in the community.

What’s interesting is that the community quickly started suspecting that behind this movement was deliberate manipulation through smart contracts. And the numbers don’t lie: according to Coinglass, the impact was brutal. Over $37 million in total liquidations in the market, with more than $31 million just in short positions closed at a loss. The project would have gained more than $30 million from this operation.

Now, who was behind all this is where it gets interesting. According to leaks from the community, the RAVE team came from the ARPA project and Bella Protocol. The names circulating are Felix Xu ( also known as Xu Maotong ) and Yemu. Felix Xu is known for raising a crypto fund of $20 million back in 2021, called ZX Squared Capital, mainly focused on quantitative operations.

The structure is what really catches the eye: the funds for manipulation mainly came from that investment fund. The project managed its own funding and its own market, which minimized conflicts of interest and allowed for maximizing profits. Yemu, as part of the executive team, participated in this structure.

Today, RAVE is trading at $1.19 with a 5.84% drop in the last 24 hours, far from those April peaks. The case is a reminder of how important it is to stay alert to suspicious price movements and verify who is really behind the projects.