It's been a shocking 24 hours for users of ArbiSwap, a cryptocurrency swapping platform: their native ARBI tokens have plummeted from $1.50 to a fraction of a cent.
New blockchain data suggests that the developers behind the project have minted 1 billion fake tokens, swapping these for USD coin (USDC) and then for nearly 69 ether (ETH).
The developers had control of the project's liquidity pools, which are held by smart contracts on decentralized exchanges. Seeding both sides of a token pair, the creators quickly garnered huge interest in the project's native ARBI tokens.
However, upon ArbiSwap's launch on February, the total locked value (TVL) quickly dropped from $4.4 million to $4 million. What appeared to be a well-thought-out project, suddenly ended in disaster as the developers removed liquidity and disappeared.
“It's a textbook rug pull,” stated one analyst. He added, "these developers launch a working decentralized finance application, then carry out social media marketing to popularize it before issuing tokens. After investors purchase them, the developers shut up shop and vanish.”
Key Points
- ArbiSwap’s native ARBI tokens fell from $1.50 to a fraction of a cent in the past 24 hours
- The developers behind the project have allegedly minted 1 billion fake tokens to remove over $100,000 from the platform's liquidity pools
- The total locked value (TVL) quickly dropped from $4.4 million to $4 million
- The move is a textbook rug pull, a scam carried out by developers
TL;DR
The ArbiSwap project has turned out to be a rug pull, with developers behind the project minting 1 billion fake tokens, removing over $100,000 from the platform's liquidity pools, and vanishing. Users have seen their investments plummet, with ArbiSwap's native ARBI tokens falling from $1.50 to a fraction of a cent in the past 24 hours.