What is a rug pull? In 2025, the number of cases may decrease, but the damages will far surpass those of the past.

A shocking fact revealed by the latest report from the blockchain analysis platform DappRadar is that, despite the decrease in the number of rug pull (fraudulent fund escape) incidents, the damage amount has reached the largest scale in history. This sheds light on the new threats facing the Web3 ecosystem.

2024 to 2025: A Major Shift in Rug Pull Trends

According to a report by Cointelegraph in April, there were 21 “rug pull” incidents at the beginning of 2024, but only 7 by the beginning of 2025. At first glance, it appears that fraud incidents are on the decline. However, there are more serious issues hidden behind these numbers.

The decrease in incident frequency indicates that scammers are becoming more sophisticated in their methods, capable of stealing large amounts of funds at once. Sara Gergelaras, an analyst at DappRadar, points out that while the frequency of such incidents is decreasing, their destructive power is increasing.

The Collapse of MantraOM Tells a Story: Surge in Rug Pull Damages

Since early 2025, the Web3 ecosystem has suffered losses close to $6 billion due to incidents related to rug pulls. Surprisingly, 92% of these losses are due to the collapse of Mantra’s OM token. This single incident resulted in over $5.4 billion in losses.

In comparison, the total loss from “rug pull” incidents in the same period in 2024 was only $9 million. This means that the damage amount in early 2025 has skyrocketed to more than 60 times that of 2024.

Although the founder of Mantra has not acknowledged this as a “rug pull,” the resulting large-scale fund flight reflects typical characteristics of rug pull damage.

Increasing Sophistication of Fraud and New Warning Signs of Rug Pulls

While the number of rug pull incidents is decreasing, their nature is evolving dramatically. In Q1 2024, the sources of fraud were mainly DeFi protocols, NFT projects, and Meme coins, but by the same period in 2025, they have become concentrated mainly in the Meme coin sector.

Gergelaras notes that scams are becoming more complex and are mostly planned by professional teams. The characteristics of rug pull incidents are also evolving, shifting from simple personal scams to organized and highly planned crimes.

The following signs are important warning signals of a potential rug pull:

• The number of active wallets is inexplicably surging
• High transaction volume but abnormally low user activity
• Smart contracts are unverified
• Development activity on GitHub is limited
• Development teams are anonymous and unidentified
• DApps are rapidly proliferating

When these factors appear together, the risk of a rug pull increases. Web3 users should pay close attention to these warning signs and consider them when making investment decisions.