Solana Memecoin Hits $320 Trillion Market Cap, But There’s A Catch

The Solana memecoin frenzy has made many investors score a home run or be out of the game this cycle. Traders are looking for new projects that could be the next hit while the market enters a new re-accumulation phase.

Memecoins have been the narrative of this bull cycle. As a result, those who wanted to make big profits mainly invested in newly launched projects. While some have made millions by trading the week’s top gainers, others have lost significant amounts trying to climb the ladder.

Solana-based memecoins have been the most popular, with some, like dogwifhat (WIF) and cat in a dog’s world (MEW), leading the way. However, not all projects have achieved recognition and support for these tokens.

A considerable number of the Solana memecoins launched in the last two months have left investors empty-handed. The latest culprit is the recently launched Bonk Killer (BONKKILLER), which became the hottest topic on Monday for the wrong reasons.

The token surpassed the $100 trillion market capitalization only a few hours after launching. Nonetheless, the reason behind what could have been the most impressive feat in crypto history is no other than a honeypot scam.

As reported by SolanaFloor, the memecoin is a scam token that attracts investors with high-profit potential but prevents them from selling their holdings. Many realized they couldn’t move their tokens only after the project’s creator activated the “freeze authority.”

This action allowed the creator to avoid selling the token, which skyrocketed the market capitalization metric to $328 trillion. According to analytics platform Birdeye, the Solana-based memecoin registers a $318 trillion market cap at the time of writing.

It’s worth noting that the token isn’t backed by the amount reflected in the metric. As one X user pointed out, the token is worthless if you cannot sell it.

When you buy but can't sell. #bonkkiller pic.twitter.com/AjJokgptmw

— Bull.BnB (@bull_bnb) April 30, 2024

Unfortunately for investors, the creator didn’t use the freezing authority to boost the token’s market cap. The scammer took advantage of the function and stole nearly half a million dollars in BONKKILLER and SOL tokens.

The creator, who holds around 90.8% of the total supply, removed 30,500 BONKILLER and 1,561 SOL, worth around $420,000. According to Birdeye data, the token is valued at $32.81 as of This writing.

UPDATE: @solana memecoin BONKKILLER, a scam and honeypot token, has withdrawn liquidity worth over 3,000 $SOL after freezing token sales for users. pic.twitter.com/JO3E3RuXMW

— SolanaFloor | Powered by Step Finance (@SolanaFloor) April 30, 2024

Even after the community’s warning, some investors continued to buy the project. In the last 12 hours, investors have spent nearly $40,000 on the token. As some X users pointed out, the false market cap might be misleading inexperienced investors into buying the memecoin.

Although it’s not the first scam of this type, the increasing rate of new launches turning fraudulent seems alarming. As reported by NewsBTC, $27 million vanished over the last month after 12 projects were abandoned by their creators.

Ultimately, this incident highlights the importance of thoughtfully researching a project’s background and carefully deciding whether the possibility of massive gains outweighs the risks.