Several meme coin projects on Solana have been rugged over the past month, leading to investors losing a staggering $26.7 million.
Solana founders have issued repeated warnings to users to discourage them from investing in such projects. However, even established influencers are participating in such activities and looking to scam users.
A Slew Of Abandoned Projects
Solana is known for its high-speed blockchain network. Lately, it has been in the news for an entirely different reason, with the network being at the heart of an unprecedented meme coin frenzy. The meme coin frenzy saw several successful projects, allowing a lucky few to become millionaires overnight. This also saw Solana outperform Ethereum when it came to network activity. However, many criticized the meme coin mania for not bringing enough utility to the network and causing significant congestion. Additionally, the surge in meme coin projects also saw opportunistic scammers steal over $26 million from investors through rugged presales. Crypto detective ZachXBT has unearthed an alarming situation and took to social media platform X to issue a warning to investors, highlighting the staggering losses made by investors.
- “Only 1 month has passed, and 12 of the Solana presale meme coins have been completely abandoned after raising >180,650 SOL ($26.7M). This staggering figure highlights the magnitude of the issue, with numerous projects failing to deliver on their promises after raising significant amounts of SOL.”
He also published a list of founders, urging users to avoid any projects launched by them.
Projects Succumbing To Rug Pulls
ZachXBT’s investigation highlighted the scale of the problem faced by investors. Back in March, the crypto detective had stated,
- “SOL raised is up to >796,000 SOL ($149.2M) from 33 presales. Despite the substantial funds raised, many of these projects have succumbed to rug pulls, leaving investors empty-handed.”
He stated that he would avoid such projects and urged the larger crypto community to do the same. ZachXBT gave an example of a meme coin called URF, promoted by Bryce Hall, a popular influencer. He stated that URF managed to raise 2400 SOL, valued at around $450,000 during its presale. However, the team behind the meme coin disappeared hours after launch, with their social media handles rendered inactive.
- “The team disappeared less than 24 hrs after launch, and social media accounts have had zero activity since March 26.”
ZachXBT noted that instead of fulfilling their obligations to investors, the URF team used the presale funds to trade meme coins, further increasing investors’ losses. Such incidents have also raised alarm in the crypto community regarding the lack of transparency and accountability in meme coin presales on Solana.
Solana Co-Founders Caution Investors
Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal have repeatedly warned investors not to invest in random Solana meme coin presales. ZachXBT’s investigations have also revealed that the LIKE meme coin presale on Solana led to the biggest loss for investors, as they lost around 52,220 SOL, worth around $8.10 million at current prices.
Another meme coin, RockyXBT’s MOONKE, led to a loss of 37,470 SOL, equal to around $5.81 million at current prices. A further 10 meme coin presales on the Solana blockchain have led to investors losing around 90,961 SOL, worth $14.1 million. ZachXBT also noted that most of these meme coins had not even released a proper whitepaper.
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