Crypto Rug Pulls Decrease 66% Year-On-Year But Losses Surge 6556%

Crypto rug pulls have seen a significant decrease in frequency this year, with a 66% year-on-year drop compared to 2024. According to a report from blockchain analytics platform DappRadar, there were 21 separate incidents in early 2024, compared to only seven so far in 2025. However, the size of each rug pull has been increasing, with the Web3 ecosystem losing nearly $6 billion to rug pulls since the beginning of 2025. The report attributes 92% of that loss to Mantra’s OM token collapse, which the founders have strongly denied was a rug pull. In comparison, during the same period in early 2024, total losses from rug pulls hit $90 million.

This shift suggests that rug pulls are becoming less frequent but far more devastating when they do occur. DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas noted that the scams are increasingly sophisticated, often orchestrated by teams with polished branding and well-planned narratives. The nature of rug pulls is evolving, with most originating in DeFi protocols, NFT projects, and memecoins in the first quarter of 2024. In the same time frame for 2025, most rug pulls occurred in memecoins.

One of the more recent high-profile cases of a rug pull is the Libertad project’s native Solana token, Libra (LIBRA). The token rallied to a market capitalization of $4.56 billion on Feb. 14 after Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, posted about it on X. The token then fell by over 94% after he deleted the post, prompting accusations of a pump-and-dump scheme. Gherghelas emphasized that rug pulls and exit scams remain a persistent threat, especially in ecosystems where projects can rapidly gain traction through hype, only to disappear with user funds overnight.

Despite increasing awareness and more tools to detect suspicious behavior, rug pulls remain a recurring issue, particularly in DeFi and newly launched token ecosystems. Gherghelas highlighted several red flags for rug pulls, including a sudden spike in unique active wallets without an apparent reason, unusually high volume paired with low user activity, unverified smart contracts, limited GitHub activity, or anonymous developer teams or DApps that spike overnight. As the industry matures, so do the tactics used by bad actors. However, the tools available to users are also getting stronger. While rug pulls may never be fully eradicated, their impact can be drastically reduced when users are equipped with the right information.