TL;DR:
- South Korea arrested 5 individuals over the CatFi rugpull, a Solana memecoin launched on Pump.enjoyable in early 2025.
- The case marks the primary software of the Digital Asset Consumer Safety Act to a rugpull scheme executed on a DEX.
- Suspects obtained earnings of 400 million received. 256 buyers reported mixed losses of 900 million received.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Workplace indicted 5 individuals over the rugpull of the CatFi memecoin, primarily based on Solana, in what represents the primary case of its variety prosecuted below South Korea’s Digital Asset Consumer Safety Act. Two fundamental suspects had been detained on Might 11, and the remaining three had been arrested final Wednesday.
In accordance with the official assertion, the defendants launched CatFi on the memecoin platform Pump.enjoyable in early 2025. Following the token’s issuance, they deployed a community of faux social media channels to appeal to buyers. The lead suspect, recognized by the surname Park, publicly introduced himself as an impartial influencer below the alias “Eth Father” to advertise the mission with out disclosing his involvement in it.
One other member of the group managed the token’s official channel, artificially inflated the follower rely and printed bulletins of fund lockup plans that had been false. The group additionally used a number of wallets to distribute tokens and carried out wash buying and selling operations so as to conceal their management over the availability.
CatFi Dropped 99%
The value of CatFi elevated 1,001 occasions in simply 26 hours after its launch. Round 6,000 buyers purchased the token throughout that interval, of whom 256 reported mixed losses of 900 million received, equal to roughly $600,000. The suspects, for his or her half, allegedly obtained earnings exceeding 400 million received earlier than abandoning the mission. Since then, the token dropped 99% to achieve a market capitalization of simply $57,000.
Police Had Ignored the Case
The case uncovered a collection of failures in institutional motion. Unbiased investigators recognized the suspects and their pockets addresses and reported them to the authorities, however police closed the file unresolved after the accused claimed to have been victims of a hack. It was the Monetary Companies Fee that referred the case to the prosecutor’s workplace, whose Joint Digital Asset Crime Investigation Unit coordinated with monetary and tax authorities to find them. One of many indicted had remained three months as a fugitive utilizing disguises to evade seize.
