The cryptocurrency world witnessed its latest potential rug pull on December 4, 2024, when internet personality Hailey Welch’s memecoin $HAWK crashed spectacularly. Known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” Welch launched her token on the Solana blockchain at $0.005492, only to see it plummet 91% within hours despite her assurances it wasn’t “just a cash grab.”
The incident followed a familiar pattern: a rapid surge to a $490 million market cap, followed by an equally dramatic collapse to $60 million. Analysis revealed that insider wallets and snipers controlled up to 90% of HAWK’s supply, with one wallet alone purchasing 17.5% ($993,000 worth) and selling it within two hours for a $1.3 million profit. The case, now under SEC scrutiny, serves as a fresh reminder of the persistent risks in cryptocurrency markets.
A rug pull occurs when crypto project developers abandon their project and run away with investor funds, often by draining liquidity pools or exploiting smart contracts. Here are ten of the most significant crypto rug pulls in history:
1. OneCoin – $4 Billion
OneCoin stands as the largest cryptocurrency scam to date. Founded in 2014 by Ruja Ignatova, the project gained massive traction after a presentation at London’s Wembley Stadium. In 2017, Ignatova disappeared without a trace. Her brother Konstantin Ignatov later pleaded guilty to the $4 billion fraud scheme. Investigators discovered the blockchain supporting OneCoin never existed – it was merely running on an SQL server. The project operated as a Ponzi scheme, rewarding investors for recruiting others.
2. AnubisDAO – $60 Million
Launched in October 2021, AnubisDAO marketed itself as a fork of Olympus DAO. Within just 20 hours of launch, approximately $60 million in ether was drained from the project’s liquidity pool. One notable investor, Brian Nguyen, lost $460,000 after being attracted to the dog-inspired cryptocurrency. While the main developer, “beerus,” claimed to be a victim of a phishing scam, investigations continue.
3. Meerkat Finance – $32 Million
On March 4, 2021, Meerkat Finance became BNB Chain’s first major exploit. Developers upgraded vault contracts to drain approximately $32 million in $BNB and $BUSD from user funds. The incident sparked debate about whether Binance should roll back the chain to return stolen funds to users.
4. DeFi100 – $32 Million
Built on the Binance Smart Chain, DeFi100 marketed itself as a “synthetic index fund protocol and rebase project.” On May 22, 2021, the project website displayed the message: “We scammed you guys, and you can’t do s[***] about it.” While the team later claimed their website was hacked, the project eventually died out with an inactive Twitter account.
5. StableMagnet – $27 Million
On June 23, 2021, StableMagnet executed a novel rug pull method, stealing $27 million. The team exploited a verification loophole in Etherscan/BSCscan by deploying a different library than the one in the source code. This allowed them to hide a backdoor in their smart contract. A white hat hacker later tracked down the team, leading to arrests and the return of most stolen assets.
6. Paid Network – $27 Million
On March 5, 2021, the Paid Network experienced an infinite mint exploit. After transferring contract ownership to an attacker wallet, $37 million worth of tokens were minted and dumped into Uniswap, crashing the price. While the team blamed poor key management, critics argued the “mint” exploit suggested an inside job.
7. Luna Yield – $6.7 Million
Solana’s first major rug pull occurred in August 2021 when Luna Yield disappeared with an estimated $6.7 million in investor funds. The project’s website and social media platforms vanished just days after launching on SolPAD. Eventually, SolPAD agreed to reimburse investors with 60% of their purchase.
8. Animoon – $6.3 Million
In June 2022, Animoon executed a rug pull worth $6.3 million. The project appropriated Pokemon designs, marketing them as original NFTs in a play-to-earn game promising dividends to legendary NFT holders. Social media personality Jake Paul faced criticism for promoting the project.
9. Evolved Apes – $2.7 Million
A developer known as “Evil Ape” launched this NFT project promising a fighting game where purchased apes would serve as characters. One week after launch, the developer disappeared with $2.7 million, leaving competition winners and the project’s digital artist unpaid. Some community members later launched a spin-off project called Fight Back Apes.
10. Day of Defeat – $1.35 Million
On May 5, 2022, this gaming project promised investors returns of 10,000,000 times their initial investment. The project ended when $1.35 million was distributed among unknown wallets. While the team claimed they were victims themselves, many investors and web3 figures remained skeptical.
Protecting Yourself from Rug Pulls
The recurring patterns in these cases highlight key warning signs: unaudited smart contracts, anonymous teams, promises of unrealistic returns, and concentrated token ownership. The CryptoSift database catalogs these incidents and their warning signs to help investors identify red flags before investing. Tools like CryptoSift have become increasingly important as new projects like HAWK continue to emerge, often following similar patterns to previous rug pulls. Before investing, use CryptoSift to research project histories, verify contract audits, and check token distribution patterns that have preceded previous rug pulls.