← Crypto Scam Library · Risk checks · Research
By Verixia Research · reviewed 2026-08-05 · educational — not financial advice
A rug pull is the deliberate removal of a token's value by the people who launched it — most directly by pulling the liquidity that lets holders sell. One transaction empties the pool; the token still exists but there is nothing to trade it against, so its price collapses to zero.
Rugs are not bad luck or a bad market. They are a structural option the team kept open, exercised on their schedule.
Unlocked liquidity: if the LP tokens aren't burned or time-locked, the deployer can withdraw the pool whenever they choose. Concentrated supply: a deployer or connected wallets holding a large share can dump into the pool, which is a soft rug with the same result. Upgrade or authority keys: mint authority lets them inflate supply into your buys; a proxy admin can rewrite the rules.
A launch can survive one of these. The combination — thin unlocked liquidity, a fat dev wallet, and live authorities — is the classic rug setup.
LP not locked or burned; a lock that expires in days; top wallets holding a large connected share; a deployer that has launched and abandoned tokens before; social channels that go quiet or delete history; a token weeks old with a countdown-style hype cycle.
Deployer history is underrated: the same wallet shipping the same bytecode repeatedly is the single best predictor.
Check LP lock status and depth, holder concentration, and authority flags together before entering anything young. Re-check around large unlock dates. Treat 'liquidity locked' as a claim to verify on-chain, not a promise to trust.
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