South Korean prosecutors charged a group in an alleged rug pull involving the Solana-based memecoin Catpie, or CATFI, in what local media described as the country\u2019s first decentralized exchange (DEX) rug-pull prosecution.<\/p>\n
The group was reportedly apprehended by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors\u2019 Office\u2019s Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Division. The main suspect, surnamed Park, allegedly posed as \u201cEth Father\u201d on social media platforms and falsely promoted CATFI as an independent third-party before executing a rug pull that caused about 900 million won ($599,000) in financial damage to at least 256 investors, local news outlet Digital Asset Works said<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n Prosecutors allege the group promoted CATFI on social media, drove the token\u2019s price up more than 1,000-fold within 26 hours and then sold their holdings for about 400 million won ($260,000) in illegal profit.<\/p>\n The move marks South Korea’s first arrest tied to a memecoin rug pull under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act and signals that authorities are taking steps against coordinated crypto price manipulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rug pulls are deceptive exit scams where the token deployers promote a project to attract outside investment before suddenly abandoning it and selling their funds, causing significant financial losses to later buyers.<\/p>\n Cointelegraph reached out to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for comment but had not received a response by publication.<\/p>\n KOSPI trading volume versus volume on won-based domestic South Korean exchanges. Source: Digital Asset Works<\/em><\/p>\n The development comes amid a significant contraction of South Korea’s domestic digital asset trading market, which saw trading volume on major won-based cryptocurrency exchanges decline to just 8% of the KOSPI stock market’s trading volume, Digital Asset Works reported <\/a>earlier on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Bubblemaps flags MYSTERY token over 90-wallet launch sniping cluster<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Following its initial surge to an $8.99 million market capitalization in February 2025, the CATFI token has since crashed by 99% to an $57,000 market capitalization at the time of writing.<\/p>\n Despite the crash, 1,512 investors were still holding the token in hopes of recovery, with the largest holder, wallet “5Q54,” holding 18% of the token\u2019s total supply, data<\/a> from Pump.fun shows.<\/p>\n The X account<\/a> that previously promoted the project has since been deleted.<\/p>\n CATFI\/USD, all-time chart. Source: Pump\/fun<\/em><\/p>\n Rug pulls and coordinated manipulation attempts continue threatening the wider cryptocurrency space.<\/p>\n Earlier in May, a Solana memecoin linked to Keith Gill\u2019s Roaring Kitty X account suffered a similar rug pull<\/a>, as the anonymous developer cashed out about $729,000 while the token lost most of its value, Cointelegraph reported.<\/p>\nCATFI token crashes 99% after rug pull<\/h2>\n
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