Top Memecoin Rug Pulls in Two Years

Cryptocurrency has emerged as one of the most disruptive technologies of the 21st century. With blockchain providing decentralization, transparency, and security, a tidal wave of retail investors have entered the crypto space, looking to catch the next bull cycle or discover the next high profile token. 

But not all that glitters is gold. While crypto has opened financial doors for many, it has also become a playground for scammers, con artists, and opportunistic developers looking to exploit hype.

For the year 2022, according to blockchain risk monitoring company Solidus Labs, more than 117,000 scam tokens were released no less than a 41% rise compared to 2021. That is almost 15 new scam tokens every hour, with an estimated 2 million victims having lost money in rug pulls alone. 

These figures show a dismal picture: beneath the meme coins, celeb-endorsed tokens, and meteoric rises, exists a shadow world where fraud often runs rampant.

What Is a Rug Pull?

A “rug pull” is perhaps the most prevalent and heartbreaking scam in the cryptocurrency community. 

Essentially, it is when the developers of a cryptocurrency project usually a DeFi token or NFT series pull out of the project after taking investor money, removing the liquidity and leaving worthless tokens behind. 

The term derives from the metaphorical gesture of pulling a rug out from beneath someone’s feet.

These scams typically bait investors with glossy websites, wishy-washy but hyped-up roadmaps, and pushy influencer marketing. 

When the price spikes and the project picks up steam, the developers drain the funds from the liquidity pool and disappear. As many of these projects are based on decentralized networks such as Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain, there is limited regulatory control and essentially no customer protection.

How Do Rug Pulls Occur?

Rug pulls usually take a few familiar patterns:

• Liquidity Theft: Liquidity is drained by devs from decentralized exchanges (DEXs), so investors cannot sell tokens.
• Honeypots: Smart contracts are programmed such that only whitelisted wallets (most often the devs) can sell the token, leaving buyers stuck.
• Minting Loopholes: Devs still have the capability to mint unlimited tokens, spamming the market and killing value.
• Soft Rugs: Devs gradually dump their tokens over the course of months rather than disappearing in the night less easy to spot, but just as hurtful.

Perhaps the greatest problem is that nearly all rug pulls look real to begin with. Whitepapers are copied from successful projects, communities are constructed around fake activity, and influencers get paid to hype without revealing monetary interests. 

This makes it difficult to distinguish between genuine innovation and flat-out scams.

Influencer Scams: The Coffeezilla Experiment

One of the best examples of influencer fraud was revealed by Coffeezilla (Stephen Findeisen), a well-known YouTuber and crypto investigative journalist. In 2022, he laid a trap by establishing a phony NFT project and asked MMA fighter Dillon Danis to promote it on Twitter for $1,000.

Danis took the bait without questioning anything or doing his due diligence and most significantly, without revealing that it was a paid advertisement. The link he posted on Twitter didn’t direct him to an NFT project but rather to a page with the message: 

“You just got scammed.” The site displayed several tokens Danis had promoted earlier, the majority of which had tanked soon after.

This stunt was a wake-up call for retail investors. If influencers can be so easily bought, how much do you believe their recommendations?

The Worst Crypto Rug Pulls of All Time

Let’s look at some of the most infamous rug pulls that rocked the crypto world, reminding us all why caution is paramount in this realm.

1. OneCoin – The $4 Billion Ponzi

Founded in 2014 by Ruja Ignatova, OneCoin was marketed as the “Bitcoin killer.” It was the next-generation cryptocurrency but had no blockchain whatsoever but a centralized SQL server. Still, it was able to raise more than $4 billion from investors across the globe.

Ignatova went missing in 2017 when she boarded a flight to Greece and is still listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives. The scam is now considered to be one of the biggest financial scams ever. Her brother, Konstantin Ignatov, became the CEO of the company and was arrested in 2019 on charges of fraud and money laundering.

2. Thodex – Exit Scam With a $2 Billion Twist

Thodex, a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange established in 2017, suspended withdrawals in April 2021 and the CEO, Faruk Fatih Özer, left the country with more than $2 billion in customer funds. More than 400,000 users were affected, and a red notice was issued by Interpol.

In a twist of fate, Özer was arrested in Albania and extradited to Turkey, where he currently stands to face a prison sentence of more than 40,000 years, proportionate to the gravity of the offense and the number of victims.

3. AnubisDAO – $60 Million Vanished Overnight

AnubisDAO came out as OlympusDAO forked with a DeFi dog-presentation. It garnered $60 million in ETH on its sale, even though it did not have a site or whitepaper. Within only 20 hours after the sale, all proceeds were siphoned into one wallet and then gone.

The founders were anonymous, and the public was in shock. Chainalysis featured AnubisDAO in their DeFi scam report, cautioning investors to seek audits and transparency before trusting any DeFi protocol.

4. Squid Game Token – The Meme Gone Wrong

Released on the Binance Smart Chain, the SQUID token was based on the popular Netflix show Squid Game and made a huge sensation in 2021. The project had a honeypot contract where individuals were able to purchase but not sell.

Within days, the project’s market cap reached $2.2 trillion (briefly), before crashing to nearly zero after developers drained the liquidity pool, stealing $3.3 million. Users caught the rug pull on livestreams, helplessly watching their balances evaporate.

5. Mutant Ape Planet – NFT Cash Grab

A Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) clone, Mutant Ape Planet (MAP) offered rewards, metaverse entry, and raffles. The project raised $2.9 million, only to have its creator, Aurelien Michel, confess in a Discord conversation that he rug-pulled the community.

Michel was arrested at JFK Airport and associated with other scam NFT projects such as Fashion Ape NFTs and Crazy Camels. His scams demonstrate the dangers of anonymous founders and the absence of regulation in the NFT market.

2024: The Year of Meme Rugs and Deceptive Launches

The bear market did not discourage scammers. In 2024, several meme coins and so-called community tokens have carried out rug pulls despite increased vigilance. Following are some of the worst culprits so far this year:

1. DIO Token Pump-and-Dump

Jump Trading was alleged to have conducted a pump-and-dump with the Decimated (DIO) token. They were given millions of tokens for liquidity, and Jump allegedly promoted the token through influencers, sold at all-time highs, and purchased at lows—resulting in massive losses for retail traders. 

2. Froggy Coin (Solana)

A Solana blockchain meme coin, Froggy Coin became popular because of influencer-supported hype. After it reached its peak, developers withdrew all liquidity and disappeared. On-chain analysts subsequently tracked the stolen funds being withdrawn to centralized exchanges, likely to be cashed out.

3. Hawk Tuah Token

Named after a trending viral TikTok meme,  Hawk Tuah Token overnight became viral. Telegram communities and Twitter influencers promoted it to trending status. But as soon as it was at its peak attention, the contract got drained and liquidity stripped, leaving suspicious admin privileges that facilitated the rug. 

4. Sharpei Token (Solana)

Another Solana meme rug, Sharpei presold funds only to disappear after launch. The social media presence and website were erased, and investors were left in the lurch. No refunds, no word, and no accountability.

5. GUNIT DeFi Rug

Marketed as a governance DeFi protocol, GUNIT took advantage of a backdoor in its smart contract. Millions were withdrawn from the contract through admin rights. Developers had said it was a “hack,” but on-chain behavior implied planned theft, as the funds were sent through mixers and private wallets. 

How to Spot and Avoid a Rug Pull

• Team Transparency: If the team is anonymous or not willing to dox themselves, be careful.
• Audits Matter: Search for smart contract audits from reputable firms. No audit = red flag.
• Liquidity Lock: Make sure that liquidity is locked through services such as Unicrypt or TrustSwap.
• Check Tokenomics: Be careful if a high percentage of tokens is sitting in the dev wallet.
• Avoid FOMO: Hype can be created. Think logically.
• Smart Contract Checks: Use tools like RugDoc and TokenSniffer to analyze contracts.
• Ignore Influencer Noise: If someone is shouting “To the moon” without disclosing sponsorship, you’re being marketed to not informed.

Final Thoughts

Crypto rug pulls are the dark underbelly of a largely unregulated, fast-moving industry. While decentralization is a core value, it also removes safety nets. As long as people chase “get-rich-quick” schemes and trust hype over research, scammers will thrive.