Crypto exchange Bitget has launched legal action against eight accounts it accuses of manipulating VOXEL token trading and profiting over $20m during a sudden market surge on April 20.
The company’s head of Asia, Jiayin Xie, said on X that legal letters had been sent to the accounts, which it believes were operated by a professional arbitrage group.
The incident unfolded when VOXEL, the token associated with the Polygon-based game Voxie Tactics, saw an extraordinary spike in trading volume last week. At one point, VOXEL’s trading volume briefly exceeded that of Bitcoin.
Bitget, which is headquartered in Victoria, Seychelles, said it plans to return any recovered funds to users through an airdrop.
Bitget flagged the abnormal activity in VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures trading shortly after it occurred. Soon after, the exchange noted suspicious volumes and wild price swings.
On April 20, VOXEL surged by more than 200% in just 30 minutes on Bitget, climbing to $0.1645 before retreating to $0.09131, still around 40% higher than its earlier price.
In Bitget’s case, some traders have suggested that the platform’s market-making technology may have malfunctioned. However, no official explanation has been confirmed yet.
The crypto sector has witnessed several high-profile exploits in recent years. Hackers and market manipulators have often exploited weak liquidity, smart contract bugs or flawed trading algorithms.