- Bitget has issued legal notices to eight accounts suspected of manipulating VOXEL futures
- The accused allegedly exploited a trading glitch on April 20, profiting over $20 million
- Bitget has pledged to redistribute recovered funds to affected users via airdrops.
Crypto exchange Bitget has initiated legal action against eight accounts accused of exploiting a trading glitch involving the VOXEL token, resulting in over $20 million in illicit profits. The incident, which occurred on April 20, saw VOXEL’s trading volume surge to unprecedented levels due to a technical fault. In response, Bitget has frozen the implicated accounts and plans to compensate affected users through airdrops.
Xie Jiayin Promises Action
On April 20, Bitget detected abnormal trading activity on its VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract. A technical glitch caused VOXEL’s price to spike by more than 200%, with trading volume surpassing $12 billion—eclipsing even Bitcoin’s volume on the platform that day. This anomaly allowed certain traders to capitalize on the situation, turning minimal investments into substantial profits.
In the aftermath, Bitget took swift action by freezing the affected accounts and reversing the irregular trades to recover the illicit gains, with its Head of Chinese Operations, Xie Jiayin, stating on X that the exchange will target those it suspects of pulling off the operation (translated):
-
Bitget will issue 8 lawyer’s letters in succession.
-
These 8 accounts are suspected to be part of a related professional wool-pulling interest group, which is the main instigator of this VOXEL incident and improperly profited over 20 million USD from it.
-
The recovered funds will be 100% distributed to platform users in the form of airdrops by Bitget.
Xie added that all other users who participated in VOXEL trading and withdrew funds between 16:00-16:30 on April 20 should have already seen their accounts restored to normal on Wednesday. He also promised that the exchange will release a “comprehensive incident report on the VOXEL event” as soon as possible to “reveal the truth of the matter.”
Bitget’s proactive measures highlight the challenges centralized exchanges face in ensuring market fairness and the importance of robust systems to prevent exploitation. As the crypto industry continues to evolve, incidents like these serve as critical lessons in the pursuit of a more secure and transparent trading environment.
