The URF meme coin team committed a rug pull and disappeared with 2,400 SOL collected during the coin’s presale.
According to on-chain researcher ZachXBT, the meme token team on the Solana blockchain withdrew Solana (SOL) worth about $450,000.
The developers completed the fraud less than 24 hours after URF launched. The team also used the funds raised during the asset’s sale to trade other meme tokens on Solana. The project’s social network activity has been dormant since March 26.
ZachXBT noticed that influencer Bryce Hall supported the project by posting several posts but has since changed and gone silent about the unreliable cryptocurrency.
Previously, ZachXBT estimated that from March 12 to March 20, 33 presales of tokens worth around $149 million took place on the Solana blockchain. The analyst identified several fraud cases with total losses of approximately $4.4 million, admitting that this is a partial list.
Some industry experts have criticized the meme coin boom, fearing a bubble burst. Founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, Ki Yoon Joo, stated that such projects harm the crypto industry. Joo compared the situation to ICO mania in 2018, which resulted in most investors losing their investments.
However, Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin urged not to be biased toward meme coins, stating that the asset should be given new usefulness qualities.
