ZachXBT Strikes Again: $10,000 Bounty to Track Down LAB Token Manipulation
- Core Point: On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has publicly offered a bounty for the identity of the LAB token founder, accusing them of price manipulation; on-chain analysts further confirm that approximately 95% of LAB tokens are controlled by the team, suggesting a potential pump and dump scheme, with the project team continuing to transfer large amounts of tokens even after being exposed.
- Key Elements:
- ZachXBT has offered a $10,000 bounty for the identity of LAB founder vsadkovv and internal documents like market maker contracts, accusing them of token price manipulation, which undermines industry credibility.
- A report by on-chain analyst Specter estimates that roughly 95% of the LAB token supply is controlled by the team, and at least six associated addresses still hold a significant amount of tokens, indicating a high risk of centralized control.
- The LAB token price surged from the $0.2-$0.5 range at the end of April to nearly $5 on May 4th, a gain of over 1,300% in 30 days. During this period, a core address consolidated approximately 100 million tokens on Bitget, accounting for roughly 50% of the circulating supply.
- On May 5th, a team-associated address transferred at least 911 ETH through the Tornado Cash mixer to obscure the flow of funds, further supporting the manipulation allegations.
- Even after ZachXBT's bounty, the project team transferred 3.66 million LAB (approximately $14.07 million) from a multi-sig address to a new address on May 7th, indicating that the manipulative behavior has not ceased.
Original author: ChandlerZ, Foresight News
On May 7, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT publicly offered a $10,000 bounty for information on the identity of LAB token founder vsadkovv (Vova Sadkov), including passports, government-issued IDs, and internal documents such as market maker contracts used by LAB on Bitget spot, Bybit perpetuals, Binance perpetuals, and OKX perpetuals.
ZachXBT stated that he had previously contacted the LAB team privately but received no response, leading him to escalate the matter publicly. He specifically pointed out in his tweet that vsadkovv was presenting a "philosophical" persona on social media while simultaneously engaging in token price manipulation, calling such actions "further undermining the overall credibility of the crypto industry."
On the same day, on-chain analyst Specter published a more detailed on-chain tracking report, characterizing the price action of LAB as a pump-and-dump manipulation.
A Premeditated Pump
LAB is a multi-chain trading terminal project supporting spot, limit orders, and perpetuals across multiple chains, featuring AI-driven analytical tools. According to estimates from several on-chain analysts, approximately 95% of LAB's token supply is concentrated among the team and insiders. Specter listed at least six wallet addresses linked to the team, which still hold a large number of LAB tokens.
Looking at the price chart, LAB traded sideways at a low range between $0.2 and $0.5 throughout early to late April. It began a stepwise ascent around April 28, gradually breaking through the $1 and $2 levels, accelerating to nearly $5 on May 4, marking a gain of over 1300% in 30 days. However, the period saw significant volatility, with sharp pullbacks following several rallies.
According to Arkham's monitoring, a core address associated with LAB began intensively consolidating funds into three Bitget deposit addresses (0xDd7..., 0x659...) around April 24. Statistics show these two addresses received a total of 100 million LAB tokens, valued at approximately $64.96 million, after which the funds entered Bitget's hot wallet.
On April 25, this address transferred 18 million LAB tokens in two batches to a Bitget deposit address, totaling about $15.39 million. Analysis suggests that with LAB's circulating supply at 230.4 million tokens, the total received by this Bitget deposit address at that time accounted for roughly 50% of the circulating supply. The large-scale consolidation of tokens to an exchange during a price rally might indicate subsequent selling for cash or market maker position adjustments.
According to Specter's analysis, starting in May, addresses linked to the LAB project exhibited a series of highly suspicious on-chain activities.
One address (0xb61d2e77...f18a103e5) conducted multiple Multicall and Transfer operations on May 5, involving interactions with SushiSwap V3 and contract creation. More strikingly, on May 4, another group of addresses (0x11F9b0f4...DF8e61Df) initiated at least nine deposit transactions to the Tornado Cash Router, each worth 100 ETH, totaling at least 900 ETH. Additionally, there were deposits of 10 ETH and 1 ETH, bringing the total to over 911 ETH.
After the Exposure: Project Team Continues Large-Scale Token Transfers
Notably, even after ZachXBT's public bounty, the on-chain activities of the LAB project team did not cease. According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, on May 7, an address received 3.66 million LAB tokens, worth approximately $14.07 million, from the LAB project team's multi-sig address (0x36F...0C291).
Tracing back, the source of these funds was the LAB token deployment address. Subsequently, this address transferred 2.125 million tokens to two contract addresses, the purpose of which remains unclear.
Price-wise, LAB plummeted from nearly $5 to $3 following ZachXBT's allegations, but rebounded quickly within a night, trading at approximately $4.64011 as of May 8, nearly fully recovering its losses.
In October 2025, LAB announced 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, among others. The funds were intended to accelerate infrastructure, products, and global expansion.
The issue of price manipulation in the crypto industry is drawing broader regulatory attention. In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 10 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 will trigger similar enforcement actions depends on whether ZachXBT's bounty investigation can gather sufficient identity and contract evidence.
As of press time, the LAB project team and vsadkovv have not issued a public response to the aforementioned allegations.
