Bitget Fights Back After VOXEL Token Scandal: $20M at Stake, Users to Be Compensated
In a bold move to protect its platform and users, crypto exchange Bitget is taking legal action against eight accounts involved in the sudden and suspicious surge of the VOXEL token. Jiayin Xie, Bitget’s Head of Asia, announced on April 27 that legal letters would be sent to those responsible, who allegedly gained over $20 million during the incident.
The dramatic events unfolded on April 20, when VOXEL’s price skyrocketed by over 200% within just 30 minutes, soaring from $0.125 to about $0.1645. For a brief moment, VOXEL even overtook Bitcoin as the most traded asset on Bitget. The price action was chaotic, with trades happening almost instantly and seemingly without the usual checks from the order book.
Bitget traced the cause to a suspected glitch in its market-making bot, which allowed some traders to take advantage of the system for huge profits. In response, the exchange quickly paused VOXEL/USDT trading, froze suspicious accounts, and promised to roll back irregular trades while compensating affected users.
Xie assured the community that users who traded VOXEL during the critical half-hour window and already withdrew their funds would not face any penalties. Those accounts have been reinstated with no further actions planned against them.
In a show of commitment to its users, Bitget promised that 100% of any recovered funds from legal proceedings would be returned to the community through airdrops. Xie also apologized for the disruption and pledged that a detailed report on the incident would soon be released.
Meanwhile, the scandal sparked criticism toward Bitget’s leadership. Critics pointed out that CEO Gracy Chen had previously slammed another exchange, Hyperliquid, for a similar token manipulation event involving JELLY, leading some to accuse her of hypocrisy after Bitget’s own troubles.
Despite the controversy, Bitget is pushing to show it can handle crises transparently and turn a messy situation into a lesson in resilience.