Verify a decision

{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"b94f8d16-63c7-40b9-a0f6-a262c603b0de","kind":"publish","page_slug":"skyai-token","published_at":"2026-05-31T07:36:28.736Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"SKYAI Token","sections":[{"content":"On April 30, 2026, on-chain data showed 36 newly created wallets depositing approximately 25% of SKYAI's total supply — estimated at roughly $135 million in value at prevailing prices — into Gate.io within a narrow window of minutes. Additional analysis found that the overwhelming majority of these wallets were funded from a single common source, indicating coordinated rather than independent action. Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps flagged the event in a public post, describing it as 'another token went PARABOLIC with coordinated wallets and signs of CEX manipulation' and characterizing SKYAI as one of the most complex cases it had reviewed. Subsequent monitoring reportedly identified coordinated outflows from cold wallets associated with Gate.io, Bitget, and MEXC, with token batches sold in steady tranches on PancakeSwap. An earlier on-chain incident in April 2025 involved five wallets suspected to belong to the same institution investing 1,920 BNB in SKYAI at launch, generating floating profits of approximately $8.9 million at a return rate of up to 784%. Separately, approximately 800 million SKYAI tokens were reported transferred to an 'airdrop distribution wallet' in April 2025, with the majority of recipient addresses being freshly created wallets alleged to be insider-controlled. These allegations are based on on-chain pattern analysis and have not been confirmed by any formal regulatory or legal proceeding.","heading":"Coordinated Wallet Deposits and Supply Control Allegations","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI's Explosive 20x Surge Raises Red Flags As On-Chain Data Points To Possible Market Manipulation","type":"news_article","url":"https://themerkle.com/skyais-explosive-20x-surge-raises-red-flags-as-on-chain-data-points-to-possible-market-manipulation/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Five addresses suspected to belong to the same organization invested 1,920 BNB in SKYAI at the opening — PANews","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.panewslab.com/en/articles/x052n5u7"}]},{"content":"Blockchain investigator ZachXBT publicly identified SKYAI as part of a recurring pattern he attributes to an unknown market maker operating primarily through Chinese centralized exchanges. In his analysis, ZachXBT described the scheme as involving supply-control manipulation across multiple tokens simultaneously — specifically naming RIVER, RAVE, SIREN, MYX, SKYAI, and LAB as tokens exhibiting the same operational fingerprint. The alleged playbook involves insider-controlled wallets accumulating tokens, depositing supply in coordinated batches to centralized exchanges, engineering price surges through listing catalysts, and then executing phased selling through exchange outflows and DEX routes. ZachXBT implicated Bitget, Gate.io, and MEXC as the primary exchange venues. In a separate investigation into the LAB token — which he assessed as part of the same operator cluster — ZachXBT described the exchanges involved as a 'Chinese CEX cartel' and named Bitget founder Shawn Liu as a key enabler. His identification of SKYAI within this cluster was reported by Bitcoin.com News and confirmed by secondary sources. The linkage to other named tokens (RAVE, RIVER, SIREN, LAB) adds corroborating context, though SKYAI itself has not been the subject of a standalone ZachXBT published investigation thread.","heading":"ZachXBT Linkage to Chinese CEX Market-Maker Playbook","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"ZachXBT Names RAVE, RIVER, SIREN, and LAB as Victims of Bitget-Enabled Market Maker Fraud — Bitcoin.com News","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/zachxbt-bitget-supply-control-manipulation-rave-river-siren-lab-2026/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"ZachXBT accuses projects like LAB of 'highly questionable price action', posts $10,000 bounty — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/400465/zachxbt-accuses-projects-like-lab-of-highly-questionable-price-action-posts-10000-bounty-for-info-on-alleged-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":1,"name":"ZachXBT alleges 95% insider control of LAB token — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/401290/zachxbt-alleges-95-insider-control-of-lab-token-in-investigation-into-ai-terminals-6-billion-fdv-project"}]},{"content":"On May 3–4, 2026, a group called the 'Evening Traders' published an on-chain analysis alert listing SKYAI alongside GENIUS, DEXE, H, M, UAI, and ZKP as tokens exhibiting supply-control risk. The warning described a 'bear-trap' mechanism in which a small cluster of large wallets can push prices sharply in either direction, triggering liquidations among both overleveraged long and short retail participants. The analysts noted historical precedent in tokens exhibiting similar concentration patterns — specifically citing RIVER, COAI, MYX, PIPPIN, and RAVE as prior examples — most of which experienced sudden rallies followed by steep declines. The alert cited on-chain data showing 73 wallet clusters holding 296 million SKYAI tokens, indicating potential market maker control. The warning also referenced the April 30 Gate.io deposit event as evidence of supply concentration masked across multiple addresses but effectively controlled by related wallet clusters. This warning originated from a community trading group and carries Tier 3 source credibility; however, its factual claims regarding the April 30 deposit event are corroborated by Tier 2 sources.","heading":"May 2026 Trader Warning: Supply-Control Risk","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Traders Flag Supply Control Risk in SKYAI, GENIUS, Chiliz and More — BanklessTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.banklesstimes.com/articles/2026/05/04/trader-sounds-alarm-on-token-supply-control-risks/"}]},{"content":"SKYAI conducted a presale on Four.meme, the BNB Chain memecoin launchpad, in April 2025. The presale raised approximately $50 million (83,848 BNB) in 36 hours from 112,306 unique participating addresses, an oversubscription rate of 167 times, which the project claimed was a record for BNB Chain. The project marketed a 'zero team allocation' tokenomics model, claiming 100% of the supply would be distributed to community participants. The only named individual associated with the project in its public press release was a contact listed as 'Mason Xu' at Mason@skyai.pro. The token trades under contract address 0x92aa03137385F18539301349dcfC9EbC923fFb10 on BNB Smart Chain with a total supply of 1,000,000,000 SKYAI and approximately 998.4 million in circulating supply. The all-time low was $0.01433 on October 11, 2025; the all-time high was $0.8543 on May 6, 2026 — a move that followed Bitget's spot listing on April 30, 2026, which analysts described as the primary catalyst for a surge exceeding 1,800% in volatility terms. As of late May 2026, the token was trading at approximately $0.176 with a market capitalization near $176 million (CMC rank approximately #148–197 depending on date). In May 2025, the BNB Chain Foundation reportedly purchased over 216,000 SKYAI tokens (~$100,000 value) as a form of ecosystem support, though this purchase does not constitute an endorsement of the project's conduct.","heading":"Presale, Launch, and Price History","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI presale raises $50 million in 36 hours, setting record on BNB Chain — GlobeNewswire","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/24/3067623/0/en/SkyAI-presale-raises-50-million-in-36-hours-setting-record-on-bnb-Chain.html"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What Caused the 4100% SKYAI Price Jump? Is Hype Sustainable? — CoinPedia","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinpedia.org/price-analysis/what-caused-the-4100-skyai-price-jump-is-hype-sustainable/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI Price: SKYAI/USD Live Price Chart, Market Cap — CoinGecko","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/skyai"}]},{"content":"SKYAI markets itself as a decentralized AI data infrastructure platform built on BNB Smart Chain, utilizing an extended Model Context Protocol (MCP) to allow AI agents to access structured on-chain data across multiple blockchains. The project claims to aggregate over 10 billion rows of blockchain data from BNB Chain and Solana, with planned expansion to Ethereum and Base. On May 3, 2026, concurrent with its price surge, the team announced final testing for an 'SKYAI MCP Hub,' described as a routing layer for AI agents to coordinate across multiple MCP servers with dynamic tool routing and cross-agent sharing capabilities. Gate.io has published promotional blog posts describing SKYAI as an 'AI live streaming application on Solana' — a characterization that conflicts with the project's own primary positioning as a BNB Chain MCP data infrastructure. The project's official press releases were labeled as paid posts and included disclaimers noting no guarantees of accuracy. The project's claimed 'zero team allocation' tokenomics is contradicted by on-chain evidence alleging insider-controlled airdrop recipients and coordinated presale accumulation by related wallets.","heading":"Project Claims and Marketing","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SKYAI Token: The AI Live Streaming Application on Solana — Gate.io Blog","type":"official","url":"https://www.gate.io/blog/5394/SKYAI-Token--The-AI-Live-Streaming-Application-on-Solana"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What Is SkyAI (SKYAI) and Why It Just Surged 106% in 24 Hours — Phemex","type":"news_article","url":"https://phemex.com/academy/what-is-skyai-skyai-ai-agent-token-explained"},{"credibility":3,"name":"SKYAI Review: A Promising AI Infrastructure Delivering Real Value to Web3 — Crypto Economy","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto-economy.com/skyai/"}]},{"content":"The SKYAI project has not publicly disclosed its founding team in any verifiable capacity. The only named individual appearing across public sources is 'Mason Xu,' listed as a press contact in a GlobeNewswire release marked as a paid post. No founders, lead developers, or core team members are identified on the official website (skyai.pro) based on available records. Informal reports suggest the team claims backgrounds at organizations including Google AI, Binance, and OpenAI via the project's official X account, but these claims are unverified and no individuals are named. The token launched via Four.meme, a BNB Chain launchpad associated with anonymous and pseudonymous launches. An undisclosed team combined with a presale design that claimed zero team allocation — while on-chain data simultaneously showed coordinated insider accumulation — represents a material transparency deficit and a recognized risk signal.","heading":"Team Anonymity and Transparency","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI presale raises $50 million in 36 hours — GlobeNewswire (contact name disclosed in press release)","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/24/3067623/0/en/SkyAI-presale-raises-50-million-in-36-hours-setting-record-on-bnb-Chain.html"},{"credibility":3,"name":"What is SKYAI: A Blockchain + AI Data Infrastructure — JuCoin Blog","type":"news_article","url":"https://blog.jucoin.com/what-is-skyai-a-blockchain-ai-data-infrastructure/"}]},{"content":"According to reporting by The Merkle, SKYAI publicly denied involvement with the suspicious wallets identified in the April 30, 2026 on-chain analysis, stating that the project monitors such developments and assists investigations. No formal statement or detailed rebuttal from the project has been identified in publicly verifiable sources. The project has not filed any legal action in response to the manipulation allegations.","heading":"Project Response","severity":"low","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI's Explosive 20x Surge Raises Red Flags As On-Chain Data Points To Possible Market Manipulation — The Merkle","type":"news_article","url":"https://themerkle.com/skyais-explosive-20x-surge-raises-red-flags-as-on-chain-data-points-to-possible-market-manipulation/"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI's Explosive 20x Surge Raises Red Flags As On-Chain Data Points To Possible Market Manipulation — The Merkle","type":"news_article","url":"https://themerkle.com/skyais-explosive-20x-surge-raises-red-flags-as-on-chain-data-points-to-possible-market-manipulation/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Traders Flag Supply Control Risk in SKYAI, GENIUS, Chiliz and More — BanklessTimes","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.banklesstimes.com/articles/2026/05/04/trader-sounds-alarm-on-token-supply-control-risks/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ZachXBT Names RAVE, RIVER, SIREN, and LAB as Victims of Bitget-Enabled Market Maker Fraud — Bitcoin.com News","type":"news_article","url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/zachxbt-bitget-supply-control-manipulation-rave-river-siren-lab-2026/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"ZachXBT accuses projects like LAB of 'highly questionable price action', posts $10,000 bounty — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/400465/zachxbt-accuses-projects-like-lab-of-highly-questionable-price-action-posts-10000-bounty-for-info-on-alleged-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":1,"name":"ZachXBT alleges 95% insider control of LAB token in investigation into AI terminal's $6 billion FDV project — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/401290/zachxbt-alleges-95-insider-control-of-lab-token-in-investigation-into-ai-terminals-6-billion-fdv-project"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI presale raises $50 million in 36 hours, setting record on BNB Chain — GlobeNewswire","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/24/3067623/0/en/SkyAI-presale-raises-50-million-in-36-hours-setting-record-on-bnb-Chain.html"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Five addresses suspected to belong to the same organization invested 1,920 BNB in SKYAI — PANews","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.panewslab.com/en/articles/x052n5u7"},{"credibility":2,"name":"What Caused the 4100% SKYAI Price Jump? Is Hype Sustainable? — CoinPedia","type":"news_article","url":"https://coinpedia.org/price-analysis/what-caused-the-4100-skyai-price-jump-is-hype-sustainable/"},{"credibility":1,"name":"SKYAI Token Tracker — BscScan","type":"on_chain","url":"https://bscscan.com/token/0x92aa03137385F18539301349dcfC9EbC923fFb10"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SkyAI Price: SKYAI/USD Live Price Chart, Market Cap — CoinGecko","type":"other","url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/skyai"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SKYAI price today, SKYAI to USD live price, marketcap and chart — CoinMarketCap","type":"other","url":"https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/skyai/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SKYAI — Bridging AI to Blockchain Future (Official Website)","type":"official","url":"https://skyai.pro/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ZachXBT Calls Bitget Part of a 'Chinese CEX Cartel' After $480 Million LAB Withdrawal — MEXC News","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.mexc.com/news/1084730"},{"credibility":2,"name":"ZachXBT Accuses Bitget of Facilitating LAB Token Manipulation — AInvest","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ainvest.com/news/zachxbt-accuses-bitget-facilitating-lab-token-manipulation-2605/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"SKYAI (SKYAI) Token Sale Review & Tokenomics Analysis — CryptoRank","type":"research","url":"https://cryptorank.io/ico/skyai"}],"summary":"SKYAI is a BNB Chain-native AI data infrastructure token that raised $50 million in a presale on the Four.meme launchpad in April 2025, marketing itself as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) data layer for AI agents. On April 30, 2026, on-chain investigators identified 36 freshly created wallets depositing approximately 25% of total supply (~$135 million in value) into Gate.io within minutes, all traceable to a single funding source, coinciding with a Bitget spot listing that triggered a price surge exceeding 1,800%. On-chain analytics firm Bubblemaps and blockchain investigator ZachXBT both linked SKYAI to a recurring supply-control and coordinated-dump playbook allegedly executed by an unknown market maker operating through Chinese centralized exchanges, the same pattern previously identified across RAVE, RIVER, SIREN, MYX, and LAB tokens.","timeline":[{"date":"2025-04-17","event":"SKYAI presale launched on Four.meme (BNB Chain). Raised approximately $50 million (83,848 BNB) from 112,306 addresses in 36 hours — claimed as a BNB Chain presale record, oversubscribed 167x.","source":"GlobeNewswire","source_url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/24/3067623/0/en/SkyAI-presale-raises-50-million-in-36-hours-setting-record-on-bnb-Chain.html"},{"date":"2025-04-20","event":"Five wallets suspected to belong to the same institution reported investing 1,920 BNB in SKYAI at token launch, generating floating profits of approximately $8.9 million (~784% return), per blockchain monitoring service Ai Yi.","source":"PANews","source_url":"https://www.panewslab.com/en/articles/x052n5u7"},{"date":"2025-04-24","event":"SKYAI announces presale results via GlobeNewswire press release. Only named contact: Mason Xu (Mason@skyai.pro). Press release marked as paid content.","source":"GlobeNewswire","source_url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/04/24/3067623/0/en/SkyAI-presale-raises-50-million-in-36-hours-setting-record-on-bnb-Chain.html"},{"date":"2025-10-11","event":"SKYAI reaches all-time low price of $0.01433.","source":"CoinGecko","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/skyai"},{"date":"2026-04-30","event":"Bitget lists SKYAI for spot trading. Simultaneously, 36 freshly created wallets — all funded from a single source — deposit approximately 25% of total token supply (~$135 million value) into Gate.io within minutes. Bubblemaps flags the event publicly as CEX manipulation. SKYAI price surges over 1,800% in volatility terms.","source":"The Merkle / Bubblemaps","source_url":"https://themerkle.com/skyais-explosive-20x-surge-raises-red-flags-as-on-chain-data-points-to-possible-market-manipulation/"},{"date":"2026-05-03","event":"SKYAI team announces final testing of SKYAI MCP Hub, described as an AI agent routing layer. ZachXBT links SKYAI to the same market-maker playbook as RAVE, RIVER, SIREN, MYX, and LAB.","source":"Bitcoin.com News","source_url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/zachxbt-bitget-supply-control-manipulation-rave-river-siren-lab-2026/"},{"date":"2026-05-04","event":"Evening Traders group publishes supply-control risk warning listing SKYAI alongside GENIUS, DEXE, H, M, UAI, and ZKP. Describes bear-trap mechanism enabled by concentrated supply.","source":"BanklessTimes","source_url":"https://www.banklesstimes.com/articles/2026/05/04/trader-sounds-alarm-on-token-supply-control-risks/"},{"date":"2026-05-06","event":"SKYAI reaches all-time high of $0.8543.","source":"CoinGecko","source_url":"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/skyai"},{"date":"2026-05-12","event":"The Merkle publishes detailed investigation into SKYAI on-chain activity, documenting the April 30 coordinated wallet deposits, airdrop wallet patterns, and coordinated outflows from Gate.io, Bitget, and MEXC cold wallets via PancakeSwap. SKYAI denies involvement with flagged wallets.","source":"The Merkle","source_url":"https://themerkle.com/skyais-explosive-20x-surge-raises-red-flags-as-on-chain-data-points-to-possible-market-manipulation/"}]},"v":1}