Solana meme coin DORAE crashes 99% amid alleged rug pull

Doraemon (DORAE) is the latest meme coin to experience a massive price drop following reports of potential cheating by the developer.

The price of the DORAE token dropped to almost zero within minutes. According to on-chain data shared by blockchain detective Lookonchain on Wednesday, there was suspicious activity in wallets linked to the Doraemon developer.

Notably, the developer of the Solana-based memecoin moved a large amount of DORAE tokens to an exchange and liquidated them for Solana (SOL). The result of the sale was an immediate drop in the price of the Doraemon token. The data showed that the value of DORAE dropped by more than 99% within minutes.

“Doraemon($DORAE) rug! Someone dumped the entire $2.5 million DORAE for $10,538 SOL ($1.45 million), causing the price to drop by over 99%! Some on-chain data indicates that this person is likely a developer,” Lookonchain posted on its X account.

On-chain data points to developer wallet

On-chain data shows that the wallet that launched the new meme coin received 304 SOLs worth over $41,000 from crypto exchange Kucoin.

The owner bought 2.5 million DORAE tokens and sold them all for 10,538 SOL worth $1.45 million. This means the wallet earned $10,234 SOL or $1.41 million in less than 6 hours.

“It is clear from the on-chain data that the $2.5 million $DORAE wallet drain was related to the $DORAE distributor,” Lookonchain said.

This potential impact for Solana comes as the ecosystem experiences a surge in meme coins; CoinMarketCap data shows that the industry’s market value is currently $48 billion. In the last 24 hours alone, the total value of these tokens was traded over $4.6 billion.

Hacks and rug charm in crypto

Meme coins often experience huge volatility, with the best performers quickly surging as new investors hunt for the next gem. Malicious actors take advantage of this to create dubious projects with no value and often harm or trash unwitting buyers.

Blockchain bug bounty platform Immunefi revealed in a recent report that more than $473 million worth of cryptocurrencies will be lost due to hacking and theft in 2024. The blockchain security firm found that 108 incidents had occurred in the ecosystem through May.