TheBlock
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT posted a $10,000 bounty on Thursday for information tied to Vova Sadkov, founder of the AI trading terminal project LAB, alleging a coordinated pump-and-dump scheme routed through centralised exchanges. According to ZachXBT and fellow onchain analyst Specter, the LAB team allegedly moved tens of millions of dollars in LAB tokens onto Bitget, Bybit, Binance and OKX in the weeks before an early-May price spike, with gas-fee patterns and shared wallet infrastructure linking the deposits to tokens like SkyAI that ZachXBT has previously flagged.
"$10K bounty is now live on @vsadkovv passport/ID or insider details of the market maker (contracts, chat logs, etc) used for LAB on Bitget spot, Bybit perps Binance perps, or OKX perps," ZachXBT wrote on X, adding that the LAB team ignored earlier private DMs. He also publicly tagged Gracy Chen, the CEO of Bitget, accusing the exchange of benefiting from fees generated by manipulated tokens. The Block has reached out to Sadkov, Chen and Bitget for comment.
Why it matters
ZachXBT's call for exchanges to "freeze MM profits / distribute to users (victims)" — rather than wait for outside sleuths to surface the case — lands as a direct challenge to the compliance posture of the major CEXs where LAB allegedly traded. The escalation is structural: a public bounty on a named founder's identity and insider documents pushes the dispute from onchain forensics into a request for off-chain evidence that exchanges and law enforcement typically hold. Specter's parallel thread, showing deposits staged weeks in advance and tied to other flagged tokens like SkyAI, broadens the allegation from a single launch to a reusable wallet playbook.
Market impact
ZachXBT's pattern this year — RAVE's 95% drawdown last month, plus flags on SIREN, MYX, COAI, M, PIPPIN and RIVER — points to a tightening correlation between sleuth exposure and CEX action on small-cap names. Whether Bitget, Bybit, Binance or OKX publicly respond, freeze wallets or open their own probes will set the precedent for the next LAB-style case.
Frequently asked questions
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What exactly is ZachXBT alleging against LAB and Vova Sadkov?
ZachXBT alleges Sadkov and the LAB team coordinated tens of millions of dollars in LAB token deposits onto Bitget, Bybit, Binance and OKX in the weeks before an early-May price spike, then dumped into the pump. The $10,000 bounty is for the founder's ID or insider documents on the market maker used.
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How are the alleged LAB wallets connected to other flagged tokens?
Onchain analyst Specter pointed to gas-fee patterns and shared wallet infrastructure linking the LAB deposit wallets to SkyAI, another token ZachXBT has previously accused of showing signs of market manipulation, broadening the allegation from a single launch to a reusable playbook.
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Which exchanges are implicated and what is ZachXBT asking them to do?
Bitget, Bybit, Binance and OKX are named across spot and perps venues. ZachXBT publicly tagged Bitget CEO Gracy Chen and called on CEXs to freeze market-maker profits and distribute them to retail users who absorbed the losses.
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Has LAB or Bitget responded to the allegations?
The Block has reached out to Sadkov, Gracy Chen and Bitget for comment. ZachXBT said the LAB team ignored earlier private DMs before he escalated the dispute publicly on Thursday.
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How does the LAB case fit ZachXBT's broader campaign this year?
It continues a pattern of flags against small-cap projects: RAVE's 95% drawdown last month, plus SIREN, MYX, COAI, M, PIPPIN and RIVER. The escalation is structural — moving from onchain forensics to public bounties for off-chain evidence held by exchanges or law enforcement.
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