ZachXBT has revealed that 12 Solana presale meme coin projects have been “completely abandoned” within the last month.
This is after the projects collectively amassed $26.7 million from investors.
Abandoned Solana Meme Coin Projects
In an April 21 post on X, ZachXBT singled out these projects and warned investors against associating with any future projects by the listed founders.
Only 1 month has passed and 12 of the Solana presale meme coins have been completely abandoned after raising >180,650 SOL ($26.7M).
Would avoid any future projects launched by these founders. https://t.co/J0zFldRIa6 pic.twitter.com/K610MAEPMn
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 21, 2024
The warning comes as a result of the downturn experienced by many of these projects shortly after their launch, with some even failing to release an actual token.
The “I like this coin” (LIKE) project, which was created by the pseudonymous founder pokeee.eth, led in terms of funds raised. It secured 52,220 Solana (SOL), equivalent to $7.7 million at current market prices.
However, the coin’s value plummeted by over 90% within the first eight hours of trading. As of the time of this publication, LIKE has suffered a 99.2% decline from its launch price.
Adding to the concern, the official X account of the meme coin founder hasn’t posted anything new since March 31, and pokeee.eth has also not given any updates on the token since then.
Following closely behind LIKE is the meme coin MOONKE, launched by another anonymous figure, RockyXBT. Despite an initial valuation approaching $500 million, MOONKE met a fate similar to its predecessor, witnessing a drop of over 99% in value shortly after its introduction to the market.
Another project initiated by founder Jared_eth, which raised 4,567 SOL worth approximately $812,000, failed to materialize as no token was ever launched.
Scammers Exploit Meme Coin Craze
A recent study conducted by cybersecurity firm Blockaid revealed that 50% of presale tokens launched on the Solana blockchain between November 2023 and February 2024 were found to be malicious.
Ido Ben-Natan, the co-founder of Blockaid, attributed this increase in scammer activity to the increase in presale token adoption during February and March, driven by the popularity of legitimate meme coins.
He also highlighted how scammers take advantage of users’ fear of missing out (FOMO) during such periods of heightened interest.
The study specifically identified individuals such as Jared_eth and Bluekirbyftm, who were also mentioned by ZachXBT in his recent post, as scammers.
One of the notable incidents involving a Solana presale token occurred in March when the developer of a meme coin called Slerf claimed to have mistakenly burned the entire presale allocation due to a “fat finger” burn error.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks there has been a decline in market enthusiasm for meme coins, with several Solana-based tokens, such as dogwifhat (WIF), experiencing slides of over 40%.
