The price of LAB tokens plummeted by 56% following the sale of 18.4 million tokens, valued at approximately $18.3 million, by a wallet associated with project insiders. The dramatic decline took place as the token's value dropped from $1.20 to $0.55 within 48 hours, raising concerns over market manipulation.
According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, trading activity was traced back to an insider wallet initially funded by the LAB team. The transactions, which began on July 10, were completed just prior to the anticipated distribution of new tokens, leading the project team to attribute the sell-off to large market participants. However, ZachXBT directly linked the wallet to earlier distributions, suggesting a more coordinated strategy behind the sell-off.
Investigations revealed that the insider wallet received over 196 million LAB tokens from the project back in April. A significant portion of these were funneled into Bitget accounts on two separate occasions: first sending 100 million LAB and subsequently transferring another 96 million LAB into two other accounts.
Between May 11 and May 12, around 100 million LAB were withdrawn and distributed across multiple wallets, with no clear evidence of external parties accumulating a substantial stake. This raised further suspicion about the motives behind the recent sales.
From July 10 to July 11, the wallet holder accelerated the process by transferring LAB to three Aster accounts, with spot sales on decentralized exchanges contributing to a further 54% decline in LAB's price, according to ZachXBT's observations. The pattern indicates that the token's liquidity was manipulated during this critical phase, adversely affecting market participants.
This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
