Something interesting happened at RAVE last week. The spot price suddenly jumped from $0.3 to $6.2 — a 20-fold surge. Of course, almost everyone immediately started thinking that this rapid increase was manipulated.

Looking at Coinglass's data makes the situation even clearer. During this event, over $37 million worth of positions were closed in the market. Of that, $31 million were short positions closed. So, some traders were seriously caught off guard by this price movement.

The most interesting part is who is behind RAVE. Community research reveals that this project is controlled by the former ARPA and Bella Protocol teams. At the helm is Xu Maotong, also known as Felix Xu. Yemu is also one of the leaders. You may know that Felix Xu founded a $20 million crypto fund in 2021 — ZX Squared Capital. This fund specializes in quantitative trading.

Here’s the critical point: RAVE’s price boosting funds and liquidity providers most likely come from ZX Squared Capital. Yemu and the other leaders are financing the project entirely with their own resources, providing their own liquidity. This way, they can maximize profits without taking on external risks. No tail risk, no trust issues — because everything is under their control.

The project team may have made over $30 million from this operation. Currently, RAVE’s price is around $1.17 — meaning a significant drop after that intense surge. The market eventually catches on to these kinds of games.