Key Takeaways
- ZachXBT named Bitget founder Shawn Liu as the platform’s actual leader, relegating current CEO Gracy Chen to a figurehead role.
- He also warned of an imminent escalation against the “Chinese CEX cartel” in the near future.
- Neither Bitget nor Shawn Liu has publicly responded to ZachXBT’s allegations at press time.
Turning The Spotlight on Bitget’s Shadow Operator
ZachXBT has escalated his long-running critique of Bitget even further, naming the firm’s founder, Shawn Liu, as its real behind-the-scenes operator. He alleges Liu has enabled scam and manipulation activity on the platform for years, highlighting: “Shawn Liu is the Bitget big boss who allows these scams to operate behind the scenes while Gracy Chen is only the face of it. The Chinese CEX cartel has gone unchallenged for years and doesn’t care as long as they benefit from the activity.”
The pseudonymous digital crypto vigilante also publicly messaged Gracy Chen on X earlier this month, accusing exchanges of profiting from trading fees generated by manipulated tokens. “ CEXs need to freeze MM profits and distribute to users (victims) when these games happen,” he posted in a direct challenge to Bitget’s conduct that has gone unanswered.
The “Chinese CEX cartel” framing refers to a cluster of Asian centralized exchanges, which ZachXBT argues knowingly profit from inflated trading volumes driven by insider-coordinated tokens (all while facing little to no accountability because no single regulator has moved decisively to shut the pattern down).
The threat of escalation carries weight given his track record, as past investigations have included exposing the Lazarus Group’s role in the $625 million Ronin Bridge theft and uncovering multiple nine-figure token fraud schemes.
Most recently, ZachXBT turned his focus toward the LAB token, which exploded in early May, gaining over 350% over a 72-hr window. Onchain data showed wallets linked to the LAB team had moved approximately 96 million LAB tokens worth $63 million into Bitget before the price surge, a move consistent with pre-positioning ahead of a coordinated pump.
Additionally, he identified LAB founder Vova Sadkov (alias vsadkovv) as the architect of the alleged scheme, placing a $10,000 bounty on the founder for any definitive proof of LAB-related market manipulation.
Bitget and Shawn Liu have not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of publication.