BALD, a meme coin created to poke fun at Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s hairless appearance, suffered an 89.4% drop in value, according to CoinGecko data.
What Happened: The token’s deployer unexpectedly removed $25.6 million in liquidity, leaving investors high and dry, as per blockchain analytics platform Onchain Intrigue.
Rug pulls, a deceptive tactic prevalent in the crypto world, are particularly common within decentralized finance (DeFi) circles. The scheme involves developers launching a seemingly legitimate token, luring investors with promises, only to subsequently withdraw liquidity and vanish without a trace.
Traders were drawn to the platform’s newly launched ecosystem called Base and rushed to purchase new tokens, which were up 30,000% in a single day, using the decentralized exchange LeetSwap. However, today it became apparent that one of the tokens, called Bald, experienced a rug pull.
See More: A Stay At The Floating Palace From James Bond's ‘Octopussy’
Why It Matters: Blockchain watchers pointed to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman–Fried as a potential culprit, despite his current status of house arrest and limited internet access.
Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran tweeted, “BALD dev is like 90% SBF or an Alameda person at this point,” pointing out that the same wallet address had been involved in the SushiSwap community years ago.
Alameda or Sam Bankman-Fried did not respond to Benzinga’s request to comment, at the time of publishing.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $28,923 down 1.41% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read Next: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Tumble After SEC Lawsuit Against Internet Marketer Richard Heart: Analyst Says July Wasn’t The Best Month For ETH, Predicts Rally In These 2 Months
Join Benzinga’s Future of Crypto in NYC on Nov. 14, 2023, to stay updated on trends like AI, regulations, SEC actions & institutional adoption in the crypto space. Secure early bird discounted tickets now!
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.