Are Solana Ecosystem Tokens Behind Crypto Market Crash?

Solana (SOL) ecosystem tokens have been crashing lately as the entire crypto market is hit with a bearish sentiment. Moreover, investors’ trust in the Solana network has been shattered owing to the recent meme coins presale scam frenzy. ZachXBT, a crypto sleuth, uncovered a massive scam involving Solana meme coins presale events this month.

Solana Meme Coins Presale Scam

According to a post on X by ZachXBT, the total amount of SOL raised by recent Solana meme coin projects is more than 796,000 SOL, equivalent to $149.2 million, from 33 presales. Moreover, he highlighted some fraudulent accounts that witnessed their project being rugged and refused initiating SOL refunds.

ZachXBT revealed to the presale address by Sartoshi0x who allegedly pocketed a staggering 62% of the SOL from the presale and failed to fully distribute tokens as promised. The crypto sleuth shared a screenshot of the transfer wherein the 4,434 SOL worth over $800,00 acquired for Solana meme coin project, MILK, wasn’t transferred to the LP but a new address.

Another case involved 2100 SOL sent to the address by Jared_eth on X, which is purportedly a fake Jared MEV bot account. Earlier, investors fell victim to this scheme, sending an additional $440,000 to a fake Jared account for a presale in June 2023.

In another instance, 3300 SOL were sent to Blue Kirby, named after a scammer who proceeded to rug their Solana meme coin presale. Initially, promises of refunds were made. However, they dropped the idea by publishing an unhinged article as they decided not to refund the investors who have been accusing them of being “scammers.”

Moreover, Vombatus_eth’s SORRY project rugged after a 13000 SOL presale, further compounding investors’ losses. The developer claimed to have distributed all the funds and moved the LP to a burn address. Earlier, amid escalating concerns regarding these projects, Solana Co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko sounded alarm and discouraged people from investing in such projects.

Also Read: ZachXBT Warns Against Scam As Solana Meme Coins Raise $122M In Presale

Is Crypto Market Crash Spearheaded By SOL Ecosystem?

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and other top cryptocurrencies have suffered massive losses today. Bitcoin slumped below $62,000 while Ethereum bottomed at $3,100. Moreover, the crypto crash is thought to be spearheaded by the Solana ecosystem tokens.

It’s because investors have been losing trust in the Solana network and especially its new meme coins. In addition, these scammers could have resorted to selling off the SOL acquired, accelerating price dip.

Earlier today, the Solana price crashed nearly 12% and traded at $165. However, it recovered notably and extended above $170. Despite the rebound, the SOL price was down by 7.50% to $171.31 at press time on Wednesday. Moreover, the Solana DeFi TVL plunged to $3.86 billion after surpassing the $4.5 billion mark this week.

Jupiter (JUP), the native token of Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter, plunged 6.9% to $1.13. Whilst, the Raydium price plummeted 10.40% to $2. In addition, Orca (ORCA) slumped 10% to $4.04. Moreover, Slerf, a newly launched Solana meme coin tumbled 12.3% to $0.828 despite the initial 1000% rally.

The Slerf crypto attracted allegations of Ponzi scheme involvement as its developer accidentally burned the LP and 500 million airdrop tokens. Presale investors lost $10.8 million as the minting rights were revoked, leaving no room for recovery.

Moreover, Dogwifhat (WIF),plunged 6.7% to $2.15. On the contrary, other Solana meme coins like Bonk (BONK) and Book of Meme (BOME) defied the trend. The Bonk price was up by 7.8% to $0.0000224 while BOME gained 11.60% to $0.01259.

However, BOME had also raised insider trading concerns amid the Binance listing. Thereafter, Binance launched a probe into the matter. The recent surge is viewed as a pump-and-dump scheme by the crypto community. Hence, the scrutiny over new Solana meme coins persists.

Also Read: Solana Co-founder Urges Users To Stop Sending Funds In Presales