Co-Founder Cautions Funding Random Presales On X

In a cautionary statement on X, Raj Gokal, the Co-Founder and COO of Solana Labs, has issued a stern warning to investors. He advises against sending funds to random Solana addresses for presales. Furthermore, this advisory comes in the wake of a significant loss of $906,000 in funds due to a rugged meme coin presale on the Solana blockchain.

Solana Co-Founder Issues Major Warning

Gokal took to X and wrote, “Don’t send money to random solana addresses for presales on twitter.” Moreover, this stark warning comes after several Solana meme coin projects rugged before launch. The latest presale in question, involving a Solana meme coin named CONDOM, managed to raise a substantial amount of 4,965 SOL.

The funding was equivalent to $906,000, which was lost after encountering a rugged exit scam just before its scheduled launch. Moreover, the presale investors were left reeling from the loss as the project’s creators disappeared with the raised funds.

In addition, Gokal’s statement underscored the risks associated with participating in random presales, particularly on platforms like X, where fraudulent schemes can easily lure unsuspecting investors. Additionally, the Solana community, alongside Gokal, emphasized the importance of adhering to verified and trusted sources when considering investment opportunities. Moreover, they urge investors to remain vigilant against potential scams and rug pulls.

Recent Solana meme coin projects collectively raised over 796,000 SOL in March, equivalent to $149.2 million, through 33 presales, as reported by ZachXBT. He brought attention to fraudulent activities, where some projects witnessed rug pulls and declined to refund SOL.

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Other Rugged Projects

ZachXBT disclosed the presale address by Sartoshi0x, allegedly pocketing 62% of the SOL from the presale and failing to distribute tokens as promised. A screenshot revealed that 4,434 SOL, worth over $800,000, acquired for the MILK project, wasn’t transferred to the LP but to a new address.

In another case, 2100 SOL was sent to an address by Jared_eth on X, purportedly a fake Jared MEV bot account. This scheme previously duped investors who sent an additional $440,000 to a fake Jared account for a presale in June 2023.

Additionally, 3300 SOL was sent to Blue Kirby, named after a scammer who rug pulled their Solana meme coin presale. Initially, promises of refunds were made, but they reneged by publishing an unhinged article, refusing to refund investors accusing them of being “scammers.”

Furthermore, the Solana-based Slerf crypto faced allegations of Ponzi scheme involvement when its developer accidentally burned the LP and 500 million airdrop tokens. Presale investors suffered losses of $10.8 million as minting rights were revoked, leaving no avenue for recovery. Amid rising concerns about such projects, Solana Co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko also sounded the alarm, advising against investing in them.

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