Crypto rug pulls have slowed, but are now more devastating: DappRadar

There has been a 66% year-on-year alteration successful the fig of crypto rug pulls this twelvemonth compared to 2024, but caller information shows the size of each rug propulsion has been increasing.

Rug pulls person dropped successful frequence year-over-year, with aboriginal 2024 signaling 21 abstracted incidents, compared to lone 7 truthful acold successful 2025, according to an April 16 study from blockchain analytics level DappRadar.

However, since the opening of 2025, the Web3 ecosystem has mislaid astir $6 cardinal to rug pulls, according to DappRadar’s report. However, the study attributes 92% of that to Mantra’s OM token collapse, which the founders person powerfully denied was a rug pull.

In comparison, during the aforesaid play successful aboriginal 2024, 3 months into the year, full losses from rug pulls deed $90 million.

“This displacement suggests that rug pulls are becoming little frequent, but acold much devastating erstwhile they bash occur,” DappRadar expert Sara Gherghelas said. 

Memecoins main culprit for rug pulls 

Gherghelas says the quality of rug pulls is evolving. In the archetypal 4th of 2024, astir originated successful DeFi protocols, NFT projects, and memecoins. In the aforesaid clip framework for 2025, astir rug pulls occurred successful memecoins.

Libertad project’s autochthonal Solana token, Libra (LIBRA), is 1 of the more caller high-profile cases of a rug pull; it rallied to a marketplace capitalization of $4.56 cardinal connected Feb. 14 aft Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, posted astir it connected X.

The token past fell by implicit 94% aft helium deleted the post, prompting accusations of a pump-and-dump scheme. 

“Rug pulls and exit scams stay a persistent threat, particularly successful ecosystems wherever projects tin rapidly summation traction done hype, lone to vanish with idiosyncratic funds overnight,” Gherghelas said.

“Despite expanding consciousness and much tools to observe suspicious behavior, rug pulls stay a recurring issue, peculiarly successful DeFi and recently launched token ecosystems.”

Gherghelas says red flags for rug pulls tin see a abrupt spike successful unsocial progressive wallets without an evident crushed oregon unusually precocious measurement paired with debased idiosyncratic activity.

DappRadar expert Sara Gherghelas says respective reddish flags could awesome a task is simply a rug pull. Source: DappRadar

At the aforesaid time, projects with unverified astute contracts, constricted GitHub activity, oregon anonymous developer teams oregon DApps that spike overnight tin besides beryllium a reddish flag.

Related: Savvy memecoin trader makes $988K successful 3 hours contempt rug pull

“As the manufacture matures, truthful bash the tactics utilized by atrocious actors. But the tools disposable to users are besides getting stronger,” Gherghelas said.

“While rug pulls whitethorn ne'er beryllium afloat eradicated, their interaction tin beryllium drastically reduced erstwhile users are equipped with the close information.”  

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