Rug pull
A crypto fraud in which developers promote a project, take investors' money, then abandon it, often deleting the website and social accounts and leaving a worthless asset.
Homeland Security Investigations defines a rug pull as a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme in which developers abandon a project, take investor funds and leave investors with a worthless asset. Two prosecutions it described show how it unfolds.
In the UndeadApes case, two defendants minted NFT collections whose resale prices climbed, then announced a third collection with exaggerated, misleading and false statements about what the NFTs would do. They minted 632 tokens, abruptly ended the sale, and then deleted their Discord and Twitter accounts, cutting off all contact with investors. In the Baller Ape Club case, according to the indictment, the project was ended shortly after the first day of sales, the website was deleted and the investors’ money was stolen, about $2.6 million in all.
The money did not stay put. In the Baller Ape case, the indictment says the funds were laundered by chain-hopping and decentralised swap services. The signs to watch for are the ones the cases show: hype that outruns any product, claims about future utility and partnerships, and a sale that can be cut off at the operators’ choice.
Where it shows up
- NFT and crypto token rug pulls · A project that looks real until the liquidity, and the people who built it, vanish in the same transaction.
On the laundering side
how stolen crypto is moved between blockchains on our sibling site, Clean on Paper.
Sources
- Jury finds cybercurrency developer of defrauding investors, laundering proceeds through other blockchains. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Homeland Security Investigations). Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The definition of a rug pull and the facts of the UndeadApes case.
- HSI Baltimore-led investigation results in breakup of largest known NFT scheme to date. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Homeland Security Investigations). Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The Baller Ape Club rug pull and the use of chain-hopping to launder the proceeds.