LAB token crashes 77% on MEXC, $6B wiped

LAB, the native token of the LAB Terminal trading hub, fell 77% on MEXC on June 2, sliding from an intraday high of $27.96 to about $6 in roughly two hours and reducing market capitalization by about $6 billion on a circulating-supply basis.

The decline followed a rapid rally that began May 29 and gained momentum after a June 1 buyback notice. LAB rose from about $7.31 to $16.24 in 24 hours, then climbed to $27.96 after changes to vesting schedules and active market making before the two-hour unwind. Using a circulating supply near 312 million tokens, market value fell from roughly $8.7 billion at the peak to about $2 billion at the low. On a fully diluted basis, assuming a 1 billion max supply, valuation moved from near $28 billion to under $7 billion. About 282 million LAB remained locked behind cliffs and vesting schedules and were not available to trade.

On-chain tracking during the crash showed the most active addresses were infrastructure contracts rather than retail or large single-wallet sellers. One proxy address executed 4,585 trades in the two-hour window, selling roughly $458,200 and buying about $322,400. Other active entities included an EIP-1967 proxy, a BnbSettler contract and a DexRouter. The largest individual sell observed in the crash window was about $18,600, with the next largest trades at roughly $10,100, $9,100, $8,600 and $8,100.

Derivatives liquidations contributed to earlier and concurrent losses. The move to $16.24 on June 1 triggered more than $19 million in liquidations, with about $16.5 million on short positions. Additional liquidations occurred as the reversal unfolded on June 2.

Observers and on-chain investigators posted theories about causes, including coordinated liquidity withdrawals by market makers, cascading derivative liquidations and arbitrage loops through thin order books. One on-chain tracker posted: “None of these look like normal holders. These are infrastructure addresses. Routers. Settlers. Proxy contracts. Automated systems.”

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has alleged concentrated insider control of LAB’s liquid float, estimating insiders hold more than 95% of available supply through over-the-counter deals, private allocations, airdrop wallets and team holdings. He claimed the project extended unlock dates and offered a $10,000 bounty for chat records, contracts or market maker documents related to the token’s trading. Earlier in May, LAB dropped about 65% within hours of a $3.83 peak and large transfers out of an exchange were split into many new wallets over a short period.

Technical intraday data show LAB gained about 572% from May 29 to the June 2 high, then fell about 77% in the unwind. After the crash, buyers reclaimed the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement near $18.87 and price consolidated between that level and the 0.618 retracement around $13.25. At the time of reporting LAB was trading near $18.38. Scheduled unlock windows in July and August will release additional allocations that have not yet been offered to the market and could affect future price action if those tokens are moved.