On-Chain Developments of the BALD Memecoin Rug Pull

Join Coin68 as we revisit the pump-and-dump journey of BALD, the "one-day" memecoin on the newly launched layer-2 Base by Coinbase.

The On-Chain Journey of the BALD Rug Pull

According to DefiLlama, Coinbase's layer-2 Base experienced a significant TVL increase to $11.71 million within 24 hours, a 10,113% rise. This surge can be attributed to a series of memecoins and shitcoins created on this chain, with BALD being a standout.

After gaining traction on Twitter throughout July 30, the memecoin rug pull occurred within just 24 hours.

Pumping the BALD Token

Significant transactions for the BALD token occurred on July 29:

• Wallet 0xccFa…176389 added $12.14 million to the liquidity pool, believed to be controlled by the dev team.
• Wallets 0x31f5…226e and 0x0b14…2a36 bought $1.88 million worth of BALD.
• Wallet 0x3300…617e deposited $500,000 into Base and staked it all into BALD.

The contract deployer for BALD added 6,700 ETH ($12.5 million) to the newly established BALD/WETH pool on LeetSwap, attracting community trading.

As a new layer-2 platform with limited applications and liquidity constraints, BALD had an opportunity to "roam free," increasing in value 30,000 times and reaching a market cap of over $36 million in less than a day due to a FOMO wave among the crypto community on Twitter, including major KOLs and regular users.

Some addresses previously linked to rug pulls on other chains also found their way to Base, aiming to repeat their tricks. According to Scopescan, one address deployed 29 memecoins on Base and rug pulled them all, netting $1.07 million from an initial investment of $103,000.

Two Rug Pulls in Three Hours

Around 07:30 PM on July 31, the BALD deployer withdrew 10,705 ETH ($20 million) and 224.6 million BALD from the BALD/WETH liquidity pool on LeetSwap, causing the token’s value to drop by 85% within seconds.

Denying the rug pull, the BALD Twitter account claimed it did not execute the withdrawal and added 400 ETH ($746,000) and 18M BALD to the pool, though this volume was insignificant compared to the earlier withdrawal.

Despite these claims, at around 09:50 PM, the BALD/WETH pool's liquidity was entirely withdrawn again. Consequently, BALD’s value plummeted by 98% within three hours, returning to its pre-pump levels. Currently, only $61,000 in liquidity remains, with a market cap of $4.8 million.

The crypto community continues to monitor the BALD deployer’s wallet, which holds over 12,400 ETH withdrawn from the pool, worth over $23 million. Due to the lack of convenient cross-chain bridges to move funds, the community eagerly awaits the deployer's next move.

Update on August 14, 2023

After several days of inactivity, the BALD deployer’s wallet started moving 7,000 ETH ($12.9 million) back to Ethereum on August 14, depositing 2,100 ETH ($3.87 million) into Kraken. The wallet is in the process of transferring another 2,000 ETH from Base to Ethereum, leaving 2,237 ETH ($4.13 million) on Base.

Conclusion

The BALD memecoin attracted significant attention from the crypto community, but its lifespan was short-lived, collapsing within 24 hours. By analyzing transactions using tools like DEX Screener and Scopescan, you can understand the rug pull process behind BALD, helping you better monitor and evaluate other memecoin and shitcoin transactions.