On April 20, 2025, gaming token VOXEL experienced an abrupt surge of over 200% within 30 minutes.
On April 20, 2025, gaming token VOXEL experienced an abrupt surge of over 200% within 30 minutes, briefly making it the most traded token on Bitget, with a daily trading volume of $12.7 billion—more than double Bitcoin’s $4.76 billion on the same platform. The spike, which occurred between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. UTC, was linked to suspected trading bot errors and market manipulation involving the VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract.
Users noticed that VOXEL was being traded repeatedly within a narrow range of $0.125 to $0.138. Some capitalized on this activity using as little as $100 to generate profits in the six-figure range. The price spiked to $0.1645 before dropping to $0.09131, which was still 40% higher than its earlier value. Bitget responded by freezing certain accounts, suspending trading activity on the VOXEL/USDT contract, and initiating an internal review.
Bitget stated that its risk control systems were activated due to suspicious activity, and they have since promised a full investigation. The platform said trading, deposits, and withdrawals for affected accounts would resume within 24 hours. While the company maintains that the event was not caused by an exploit or breach of its systems, it has committed to compensating users who suffered losses during the incident. Bitget’s CEO, Gracy Chen, emphasized that a $300 million protection fund would be used to cover the losses and that gains made through suspected manipulation would be clawed back.
The incident drew comparisons to a similar event in March on the Hyperliquid platform involving the JELLY token. In that case, a trader manipulated a long/short position, causing a 400% spike and resulting in the token being delisted from the platform.
Bitget’s CEO had previously criticized that move, warning about the dangers of forcefully settling contracts.
The exchange attributed the event to user-triggered actions and not to internal faults. According to a spokesperson, accounts involved in the activity were operated by individual traders and not affiliated with Bitget. The platform is now working to roll back those trades. Despite Bitget’s assurances, some traders criticized the response. One user accused the exchange of unethical handling of the situation and questioned its transparency. The platform’s decision to forcibly settle contracts at unfavorable prices for some users sparked further complaints.
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators.
This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.
