Make a card

Crypto words

What a rug pull is

A rug pull is when the people behind a crypto project take everybody's money and disappear. The coin drops to nearly nothing.

Published · Updated

Make a group cardNotes and money, in one link.

rug pull
Founders take the money and vanish.
rugged
Caught in one. I got rugged.
soft rug
The team drifts off and sells slowly instead of all at once.

Where the phrase comes from

To pull the rug from under somebody is an old English phrase: to take away their support without warning.

How a rug pull works

  • The team takes the money out of the pool people trade from.
  • Or the coin's code stops anybody but them selling.
  • Or they hold most of the coins and sell them all at once.

A known case

A coin named after the TV show Squid Game launched in October 2021. Buyers could not sell. On 1 November it fell from $2,861 to almost nothing, and about $3.38 million was gone.

Source: Wikipedia, 2021 Squid Game cryptocurrency scam.

Signs to look for

  • A team nobody can name.
  • A few wallets holding most of the coins.
  • You can buy but nobody seems able to sell.
  • Pressure to get in today.

If you think you were rugged

In the UK, report it to Action Fraud. In the US, to the FBI's IC3. Keep the addresses and the transaction links.

The front of the card

For Theo · Get well soon · 19 October

Collection pot9 people chipped in 175 USDG
  • Back on your feet soon. The group chat is not the same.

    Ama
  • You never rugged a single one of us. Rest.

    0xsol
  • Soup money. Use it on soup.

    Fern

Robinhood Chain

An example card. The names are made up.

Questions

What does rug pull mean?

The people behind a crypto project take the money and leave.

What does rugged mean?

That you lost money in a rug pull.

Is a rug pull illegal?

Taking people's money by deceit is fraud in most countries.

Can you get money back after a rug pull?

Rarely. A payment on a chain cannot be reversed. Report it anyway.

What does pull the rug mean outside crypto?

To take away somebody's support without warning.

More guides