ZachXBT Says 95% of LAB Token Is Insider-Controlled as Investigation Exposes Multi-Front Retail Rug

Onchain investigator ZachXBT has published a sweeping investigation into LAB, an AI trading terminal project with a $6 billion fully diluted valuation, alleging insiders control more than 95% of the token supply while running at least four simultaneous mechanisms to extract value from retail participants.

ZachXBT laid out multiple concurrent extraction mechanisms running simultaneously:

(i) Private OTC loans: Co-founder Vova Sadkov signed loan agreements carrying a 7.5% monthly interest rate for six months, with OTC deals priced at 60–80% discounts to market. Some arrangements required key opinion leaders (KOLs) to post multiple times promoting the project before their tokens could unlock, a shill requirement baked directly into the financial terms.

(iii) Marketing reward clawbacks: Creators who ran promotional campaigns for LAB have reported waiting months for payouts, with no clarification from the team on timelines or whether payments will come at all.

(iv) Opaque market-making: ZachXBT identified a market-making agreement between LAB and an unnamed counterparty whose terms were never disclosed to token holders, a structure that allowed coordinated price management without any transparency.