- Crypto platform Safereum has rugged investors hours after closing a funding round that raised $600,000
- The rug pull was noted by blockchain security platform CertiK
- The exit scam led the platform’s token plunging over 90%
Crypto investors are lamenting the loss of their funds after Safereum conducted an exit scam hours after raising $600,000 in a funding round. According to blockchain security firm CertiK, the platform’s developers “unlocked Safereum tokens and sold” them causing the token’s price to crash by over 90%. On-chain sleuths estimate the total amount stolen, including those from the fundraise, to be approximately $1.3 million, confirming recent comments by an EU regulator noting that some blockchain-based products pose serious risks to investors.
Moved to Multiple Wallets
According to CertiK, the stolen funds have already been deposited in different wallets and the platform’s X (formerly Twitter) page deactivated, an indication that the malicious developers want to complicate the recovery process.
We can confirm that @Safereumio has conducted an exit scam for ~$1.3m
Eth: 0xb504035a11E672e12a099F32B1672b9C4a78b22f
safereum.eth unlocked Safereum tokens and sold. Additionally ~$597k was raised for the project’s SAFEPAD token.https://t.co/aAxjcEmdcH
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) October 23, 2023
The funding round was meant to raise money to create ‘Safepad,’ a derivative offering, with some describing the incident as “the most insane rug.”
Some in the crypto community have pointed fingers at influential entities involved in promoting the project on social platforms. On-chain investigator ZachXBT, for example, blamed ‘ProTheDoge,’ an X account with over 280,000 followers, for promoting the scam project.
ZachXBT added that the account claimed to be part of Safereum’s official partners, adding that this isn’t the first time the account was associated with suspicious crypto projects.
Unknown Smart Contract Auditors
Although some argued that the project’s smart contracts were audited by five firms, ZachXBT noted that he had “never heard of any of these auditors,” implying that the project may have faked the names to appeal to audit-conscious investors.
Never heard of any of these auditors pic.twitter.com/sdi0P4WhBv
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 23, 2023
The incident comes roughly six months after Ordinals Finance pulled off an exit scam pocketing around $1M on their way out. Other crypto-centric projects that have rugged users include AfriCrypt, Hatch DAO and Thodex.
With the funds distributed to multiple wallets and its X account closed, it’s to be seen whether affected investors will try to recover the funds.
