On-chain analyst SpecterAnalyst has accused the team behind LABtrade ($LAB) of moving nearly $80 million worth of tokens to Bitget before the token’s price surge, framing the activity as possible market manipulation. ZachXBT later amplified the claims and sharply criticized the project’s founder, saying the public image presented online did not match the trading behavior shown on-chain.
Wallet activity highlighted before the May price spike
According to the investigation cited by SpecterAnalyst, $LAB fits the pattern of a classic pump-and-dump token. He claimed wallets linked to the team controlled a large share of supply, with some affiliated addresses still holding substantial allocations.
Two transfers were presented as central evidence. On April 8, a team-linked wallet ending in 0xe037 deposited 40 million LAB into Bitget, worth about $13.6 million at the time. Then, during the week before $LAB began surging on May 1, wallets tied to the team reportedly sent 96 million LAB to Bitget, valued at roughly $63 million.
SpecterAnalyst also said those wallets received coordinated gas allocations of 0.14 BNB, bought LAB on-chain, and continued routing tokens to Gate and Bitget. In his view, that sequence pointed to deliberate preparation for distribution into exchange liquidity. The accusation was direct.
Bitget criticized over its role as an exit venue
The exchange was drawn into the dispute as well. SpecterAnalyst argued that Bitget has repeatedly served as the venue where this kind of selling takes place, raising questions about the responsibilities of centralized exchanges when suspicious flows appear before major price moves.
He also named Bitget CEO Gracy Chen, saying weeks had passed since a pledge to look into this type of conduct, yet no public progress update had been provided. Based on the source material, Bitget had not issued a new public response to these latest allegations at the time of writing.
ZachXBT says founder read his message and did not reply
After the on-chain report circulated, ZachXBT reposted it and aimed his criticism at LAB founder @vsadkovv. He mocked the founder for posting what he described as pseudo-philosophical commentary on social media while allegedly engaging in exchange-based market manipulation.
ZachXBT added that he had tried to contact the founder privately but was “left on read”. He went on to say that grifters of this kind were damaging what little credibility the crypto industry still has.
As of now, neither the LAB team nor Bitget has released a new public statement addressing the allegations. The publicly available account remains based on on-chain tracing and social media posts from the two investigators.