Scammers are capitalizing on the memecoin craze, exploiting users’ heightened risk tolerance fueled by the fear of missing out (FOMO).
Investigative crypto researcher ZachXBT has exposed 12 Solana-based meme coin presales that were abandoned last month, after collectively raising $26.7 million from investors.
In a post on X dated April 21, ZachXBT highlighted these projects, advising investors to steer clear of future ventures connected to the projects’ creators due to their dubious track records.
Many of these meme coin projects faltered soon after their launch, with some failing to even issue a token. The project “I like this coin” (LIKE), initiated by pokeee.eth, raised the most with 52,220 Solana (SOL), amounting to about $7.7 million. The value of LIKE collapsed by over 90% within eight hours of its trading debut and has since plummeted by 99.2% from its initial price.
The creator’s X account has been inactive since March 31, and pokeee.eth has ceased updates on the project.
Another meme coin, MOONKE, created by the anonymous RockyXBT, was initially valued near $500 million but also saw its value dive by more than 99% shortly after hitting the market.
A project by Jared_eth, which garnered 4,567 SOL (around $812,000), also dissolved without launching an actual token.
According to a recent study by cybersecurity firm Blockaid, half of the presale tokens on the Solana blockchain identified between November 2023 and February 2024 were scams. Blockaid’s co-founder, Ido Ben-Natan, noted that the surge in scam activities coincided with the growing popularity of meme coins in early 2024, with scammers exploiting the FOMO among investors.
The study further noted scammers like Jared_eth and Bluekirbyftm, who were also mentioned by ZachXBT as being behind fraudulent activities.
One infamous incident involved the developer of the Slerf meme coin, who claimed to have accidentally destroyed the entire presale allocation due to a mishap.
As interest in meme coins wanes, several Solana-based tokens, including dogwifhat (WIF), have seen significant declines, with some losing over 40% in value.