Unfortunately, rug pulls have become synonymous with the crypto market as scammers see it as an opportunity to make quick cash. One such rug pulls has hit the Nigerian crypto X (formerly Twitter) community, where what is assumed to be one of the most trusted influencers rug-pulled a project that raised $300,000 in its presale.
The Genesis Of Stimmy Coin (STIMMY)
Surfing through the X (formerly Twitter) posts related to the Stimmy Coin, it looks to be that the coin was created as a parody of the stimulus checks received by United States residents during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The coin seemed to gain popularity quickly due to the founder being widely known in the Nigerian crypto community. The founder Feyi, whose X (formerly Twitter) account @feyi_x has over 84,000 followers, was able to get widespread popularity for the STIMMY project by organizing social media contests, and the likes.
Interestingly, browsing posts of the founder revealed that he had always been a vocal critic of founders who rug-pulled or scammed investors, which is how he garnered such a loyal following. This following grew as he readied to launch his project.
On the day of the presale, Feyi would go the unconventional route of asking investors to send ETH to a personal wallet address instead of using an established presale platform like Pinksale. From this point onward, the project seems to be doomed.
After raising $300,000 in the presale, tokens were distributed to participants and STIMMY coin was listed on decentralized exchanges, which is where the cracks began to show. At first, there was less than half of the presale funds added to the liquidity pool, which meant participants were in losses right out the gate. Nevertheless, many kept the faith as they believed in Feyi.
The next crack to show was that marketing for the STIMMY coin seemed to be nonexistent despite the founder holding around $150,000 in his personal wallet. The funds were never deployed for marketing and presalers were never once in profit. Not long after, Feyi disappeared from social media and began moving the spoils of his scam to Binance. However, this was not the end.
Feyi And Developer Pull Liquidity Pool For STIMMY Crypto
The STIMMY liquidity pool was initially locked for four months and even this gave investors a pause as it showed the founder of the cryptocurrency may be up to no good. Investors will eventually be proven right in their assumptions when the liquidity was unlocked on Friday, October 27.
Just got information that the $STIMMY LP that was pulled and moved to Kucoin was @DevPanther999 which was Feyi’s dev. He scammed them of the LP ($85,000) and other funds he moved from the project. This isn’t his first scam as he did same to another project too. He is fully doxxed https://t.co/AvgAxZU0gE
— Somto (@Ogcsn) October 27, 2023
As soon as the unlock happened, the $85,000 in ETH left in the liquidity pool was promptly moved out and bounced through multiple wallets in what looks to be a strategy to conceal the funds, and apparently ended up on the KuCoin exchange.
In true X fashion, users began their own investigations and figured out the developer behind the project who reportedly goes by the X handle @DevPanther999. The developer’s LinkedIn page has since been doxxed and is being circulated on social media already. The founder, Feyi, has also been doxxed with his images being circulated on social media by victims of the rug.
The dev behind the infamous $STIMMY rug pull
He is responsible for pulling liquidity from $STIMMY pic.twitter.com/z8BAIpyQBr
— King.sol 🇶🇦 (@teddi_speaks) October 27, 2023
By pulling the liquidity, the founder and team behind the STIMMY project have done a complete rug pull, leaving investors who were already sitting in losses holding completely worthless coins that they can no longer sell.
The project comes as a warning of the dangers of investing in untested and unproven crypto founders. Additionally, it is also a big blow to a country (Nigeria) that has struggled to have projects from the region taken seriously on the global stage, further damaging an already fragile reputation.
Total market cap at $1.23 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on Tradingview.com