ZachXBT Strikes Again: $10,000 Bounty to Trace LAB Token Manipulation
- Key Point: On-chain detective ZachXBT has publicly posted a bounty seeking the identity of the LAB token founder, accusing them of price manipulation. On-chain analysts further confirmed that approximately 95% of LAB tokens are controlled by the team, raising suspicions of a pump-and-dump scheme. The project team continued transferring large amounts of tokens even after being exposed.
- Key Elements:
- ZachXBT has offered a $10,000 bounty for information identifying LAB founder vsadkovv's identity and internal documents such as market maker contracts, accusing them of token price manipulation and undermining industry credibility.
- A report by on-chain analyst Specter estimates that approximately 95% of the LAB token supply is controlled by the team, with at least six associated addresses still holding large amounts of tokens, indicating a high risk of price manipulation.
- The LAB token price surged from a $0.2-0.5 range in late April to nearly $5 by May 4, with gains exceeding 1300% over the past 30 days. During this period, core addresses consolidated approximately 100 million tokens to Bitget, representing about 50% of the circulating supply.
- On May 5, team-associated addresses transferred at least 911 ETH via the Tornado Cash mixer to obscure the flow of funds, further corroborating the manipulative behavior.
- Even after ZachXBT's bounty posting, the project team continued to transfer 3.66 million LAB (approximately $14.07 million) from a multi-signature address to a new address on May 7, indicating that the manipulative actions have not ceased.
Original author: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
On May 7th, on-chain detective ZachXBT publicly offered a bounty of $10,000 for information identifying the founder of the LAB token, vsadkovv (Vova Sadkov), including passport, government-issued IDs, as well as internal documents such as the market maker contracts used by LAB on Bitget spot, Bybit perpetual, Binance perpetual, and OKX perpetual, and chat logs.
ZachXBT stated that he had previously contacted the LAB team privately but received no response, leading him to escalate the matter publicly. In his tweet, he specifically pointed out that vsadkovv cultivates a personal image by posting "philosophical musings" on social media while simultaneously participating in token price manipulation, stating such behavior "is further eroding the overall credibility of the crypto industry."
On the same day, on-chain analyst Specter released a more detailed on-chain tracking report, characterizing LAB's price volatility as a pump-and-dump scheme.
A Premeditated Pump
LAB is a multi-chain trading terminal project supporting spot, limit orders, and perpetual contract trading across multiple chains, featuring AI-driven analytical tools. According to estimates by several on-chain analysts, approximately 95% of LAB's token supply is concentrated in the hands of the team and insiders. Specter listed at least six wallet addresses linked to the team, which still hold a significant amount of LAB tokens.
Looking at the price chart, LAB traded sideways in a low range between $0.2 and $0.5 throughout early to late April. Starting around April 28th, it began to rise in a stepwise fashion, gradually breaking through the $1 and $2 resistance levels. On May 4th, it accelerated sharply to nearly $5, achieving a gain of over 1300% in 30 days. However, the period was marked by intense volatility, with significant pullbacks following several upward surges.
According to monitoring by Arkham, around April 24th, a core LAB-associated address began intensively consolidating funds into three Bitget deposit addresses (0xDd7..., 0x659...). Analysis shows these two addresses received a total of 100 million LAB tokens, worth approximately $64.96 million, all of which subsequently entered Bitget's hot wallet.
On April 25th, this address transferred 18 million LAB tokens, worth approximately $15.39 million, to a Bitget deposit address in two transactions. An analysis noted that with LAB's circulating supply at 230.4 million tokens, the total amount received by this Bitget deposit address at the time accounted for roughly 50% of the circulating supply. The large-scale consolidation of tokens towards the exchange during the price rally could indicate subsequent selling for cash or adjustments by market makers.
According to Specter's analysis, starting in May, addresses linked to the LAB project exhibited a series of highly suspicious on-chain operations.
One address (0xb61d2e77...f18a103e5) performed multiple Multicall and Transfer operations on May 5th, involving interactions with SushiSwap V3 and contract creation. More strikingly, on May 4th, another set of addresses (0x11F9b0f4...DF8e61Df) initiated at least 9 deposit transactions to the Tornado Cash Router, each for 100 ETH, totaling at least 900 ETH. Additionally, there was one deposit of 10 ETH and another of 1 ETH, bringing the total to over 911 ETH.
After the Exposure: Project Team Continues Large Token Transfers
Notably, even after ZachXBT's public bounty, the LAB project team's on-chain activities did not cease. According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, on May 7th, an address received 3.66 million LAB tokens, worth approximately $14.07 million, from the LAB project team's multi-signature address (0x36F...0C291).
Tracing back, the source address of these funds is the deployment address of the LAB token. Subsequently, this address transferred 2.125 million tokens to two contract addresses, the purpose of which remains unclear.
At the price level, LAB initially plummeted from nearly $5 to $3 following ZachXBT's allegations, but recovered quickly within a night. As of May 8th, it was quoted at approximately $4.64011, nearly fully recovering its losses.
In October 2025, LAB announced the completion of a $5 million funding round with participation from Selini Capital, Re7 Capital, Cypher Capital, RedBeard VC, Lemniscap, TVM Ventures, OKX Ventures, Mirana, KuCoin Ventures, Gate Ventures, GSR, Animoca Brands, Presto Labs, and others. The funds were intended to accelerate infrastructure, product development, and global expansion.
The issue of price manipulation in the crypto industry is attracting broader regulatory attention. In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted ten executives from market makers such as Gotbit and Vortex, accusing them of using bots for wash trading to inflate token prices. The founder of Gotbit has pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit $23 million.
Whether the LAB incident triggers similar enforcement actions depends on whether ZachXBT's bounty investigation can gather sufficient identity and contractual evidence.
As of press time, the LAB project team and vsadkovv have not issued a public response regarding the aforementioned allegations.
