In-depth analysis of the RVV plunge: Who is reaping the benefits?
TL;DR
After RVV was listed on Binance Alpha and Gate.io on October 18, 2025, it experienced a massive sell-off in a short period of time. Approximately 890M RVV (8.6% of the total supply) was sold, cashing out 10.66 million USDT . The price plummeted from a high of $0.0399 to $0.007318, a drop of over 80% . The project claimed that the third-party market maker account was hacked, but on-chain evidence and community analysis strongly point to a coordinated sell-off , with the project team or related parties likely the primary recipients.
Core Analysis
On-chain evidence: Clear insider selling pattern
Sell-off Path Tracing :
- Starting point : Minting contract
0xd3Ca4832452d64dfF8acEf7a2f2B4922af09dA94 - Distribution layer : transferred to 8 multi-signature addresses, and then abnormally distributed to 18+ new wallets
- Cash out : Sold through DEX aggregators such as 1inch and Zerion, obtaining 10.268 million to 10.66 million USDT
- Funds flow : 82% (8.26 million USDT) were quickly transferred to Gate.io and KuCoin hot wallets
Timeline :
| Time (UTC) | event | Price impact |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-10-18 13:00 | Binance Alpha launches | $0.0209 → $0.0266 |
| 2025-10-18 ~13:00 | Minting contract transfers 800M RVV to multi-signature | Price maintenance |
| 2025-10-18 14:00 | Gate.io Opens Trading | Stable at ~$0.02 |
| 2025-10-18 ~22:00 | Multi-signature batch distribution begins selling | $0.0266 → $0.0105 |
| 2025-10-19 00:00 | Sell-off completes bottoming out | Minimum $0.0074 |
Project statement vs. on-chain truth
Official statement :
- Claims that "third-party market making accounts were hacked"
- Commitment to repurchase the same number of tokens
- Provide a 10% bounty program for stolen funds
On-chain analysts questioned :
- EmberCN : Which hacker would directly transfer USDT to a freezeable CEX?
- ai_9684xtpa : Related parties maliciously sold $9.09 million
- Lookonchain : 18 wallets abnormally dumped
Community sentiment: Harvest theory dominates
Chinese community reaction :
- It is generally believed that this is a typical "running away and cutting leeks" behavior
- Questioning whether the project owner used the name of "hacker" to cover up internal selling
- Accusing the team of manipulating retail investors by extending the token lock-up period
English community perspective :
- Considered the classic "rug pull" mode
- It is suspected that hackers would transfer funds directly to CEX, which is easy to track.
- Emphasize that on-chain evidence points to an internal multi-signature vulnerability rather than an external attack
Technical analysis: Organized market manipulation
Abnormal characteristics :
- Abnormal trading volume : 24-hour trading volume is $78M+, which is 800-1500% of the market value
- Coordinated sell-off : 18 wallets acted simultaneously, indicating pre-planning
- Cash-out path : Use DEX aggregators to simulate normal transactions to avoid triggering alarms
- Concentration of funds : The main profits are concentrated in 2 addresses (>6.18 million USD)
Evidence of price manipulation :
| index | data | Abnormality |
|---|---|---|
| Scale of sell-off | 890M RVV (8.6% of total supply) | Very high |
| Cash-out amount | $10.66M | Matching the scale of project financing |
| Execution time | Completed within 12 hours | Highly coordinated |
| CEX transfer | 82% of funds are withdrawn quickly | Not in line with hacking behavior |
Conclusion: Who is reaping the benefits?
Based on comprehensive analysis, the reapers are most likely internal project teams or related parties :
Core evidence support
- Source of funds : The sell-off comes directly from the minting contract and multi-signature wallet controlled by the project party
- Behavior pattern : decentralized but coordinated selling, more like internal optimization cashing than hacking
- Funds flow : Directly transferred to a CEX that can be frozen, which does not meet the anonymity preferences of hackers
- Time node : Execute immediately after going online, in conjunction with financing and listing hype
Risk Warning
- Trust crisis : The community's credibility in the project has basically collapsed
- Legal risks : suspected securities fraud and market manipulation
- Subsequent impact : Similar AI/Web3 concept projects face stricter scrutiny
The RVV incident exemplifies the "financing-listing-cash-out" model of new projects. Investors should be highly vigilant against this type of systematic profiteering through hype and exchange endorsements .