Bitget Takes Legal Action After Alleged $20 Million VOXEL Token Manipulation
Bitget Exchange Pledges to Airdrop Recovered Funds to Users, Amid Concerns Over Risk and Transparency in the Crypto Market
Bitget, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, is taking legal action against eight accounts allegedly involved in manipulating the price of the VOXEL token, following an unusual spike on April 20. According to Bitget’s China representative Jiayin Xie, the accounts are believed to be part of a “professional arbitrage group”.
In an official statement, Bitget said the group had made over $20 million through irregular trading activities, causing large fluctuations in the VOXEL/USDT trading pair. The exchange has temporarily suspended trading, deposits, and withdrawals of the related accounts, and confirmed that it will distribute all recovered funds to users via airdrop.
Market manipulation and market making system errors suspected
The incident occurred when the price of the VOXEL token – the native asset of the Polygon-based strategy game Voxie Tactics – suddenly increased by more than 560% in just 48 hours, from $0.021 to $0.139, before plummeting to $0.074. Bitget quickly detected “unusual activity” in the token’s perpetual futures contract, raising suspicions of a price manipulation attack.
Some users on the X (Twitter) platform have questioned Bitget’s market making mechanism, suggesting that the system may have been exploited. Some have compared the incident to casinos suing players for winning jackpots – sparking debate about the fairness of centralized trading platforms.
Pledge to be transparent and refund users
Bitget said that most users were not affected by the incident, but has not yet revealed the identity of the group behind it or the technical vulnerabilities that were exploited. “We will release a full report on the VOXEL incident as soon as possible,” Xie said.
The incident comes just months after another “flash crash” involving Bitget’s native BGB token, which saw its price drop more than 52% in less than an hour. In both cases, Bitget responded quickly, implemented corrective measures and promised to refund users.
Crypto Market Faces Ethical and Risk Control Challenges
Bitget CEO Gracey Chen has also criticized the response of DEX platform Hyperliquid after being exploited in a similar incident, calling it “immature, unethical, and unprofessional,” and warning that non-transparent exchanges could become “FTX 2.0.”
Amid the growing number of manipulation incidents, Bitget said it is working with regulatory agencies and major market makers to strengthen risk controls and enhance trust for global users.