Unveiling the Early Controversies of a Renowned Memecoin Platform and Its Mysterious Founder

A well-known Memecoin platform was founded by three entrepreneurs in their twenties in January 2024. The platform quickly became the preferred incubation and trading venue for Memecoins. According to statistics, within just 15 months, the platform has generated over $600 million in revenue through a 1% trading commission.

The three co-founders rarely disclose their identities, locations, or company structure. One of the co-founders mentioned in an interview last year that this anonymity is for "personal safety" considerations to prevent the massive managed crypto assets from triggering extortion or attacks.

However, a survey shows that several years before the launch of the platform, a person with the same name as the co-founder had already made a fortune by issuing and selling his own token.

According to analysis by a blockchain security company, the developer using the same name earned as much as $75,000 in cryptocurrency in 2017 solely from the sale of two tokens—estimated to be worth around $400,000 at today's coin prices.

"After waiting for the market share and price to rise, they quickly cashed out and left the scene." said the chief security officer of the security company, "We strongly suspect that one of the tokens was designed by the developer as a tool for a Rug Pull."

The purpose of the platform, according to its co-founders, is to protect investors from unethical actors through the standardization of token issuance methods. However, there is evidence that this co-founder may have been the type of developer that the platform was trying to guard against in its early days.

During the peak of the ICO craze in 2017, this developer launched two highly anticipated tokens. He followed the standard script of the time: minting tokens on Ethereum, building a website, and promoting through forums and social media. To generate hype, they distributed tokens for free through what is known as "airdrop," and promised to release a white paper.

However, just as early investors were filled with expectations, the developers began secretly offloading tokens. Analysis shows that just days after the token was created, a large number of tokens were distributed to wallets under their control, and then they sold them in large quantities to the market. These sales coincided with a catastrophic crash in the asset's price, which fell by 87.9%.

Panic began to spread on social platforms. Investors accused developers of being fully responsible. A user who participated in the token airdrop said: "Everyone is very angry. I think this is my first experience of a Rug Pull."

The highly anticipated white paper has never appeared, and ultimately, the developer disappeared from forum posts and social groups. A few days ago, he even wrote: "I can assure everyone that the project is making significant progress."

The investigation found that developers used complex fund transfer methods to move profits into multiple wallets, ultimately funneling them into centralized exchange platform accounts—these platforms are typically used to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat.

Despite some investors still harboring fantasies about its return, all signs have long indicated the final outcome. In an early post, the developer candidly stated: "This will be like a Pump and Dump, a round of price increase followed by sell-off, early investors can recoup their costs. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the reality."

As of today, the platform's frenzy has not abated. According to statistics, its daily revenue reaches as high as 1 million dollars. The founders' wealth has soared, leaving the controversies of the past far behind. Meanwhile, as this "wealth-generating machine" continues to operate, the contrary Rug Pulls are still unfolding, with almost no one paying attention.