Rug Pull
From Know Your Memecoin — the public memecoin database & daily-updated archive
When creators or insiders yank liquidity or dump supply so hard that holders are left with worthless tokens — “pulling the rug.”
Rug Pull Classic rugs remove LP. Soft rugs and slow dumps achieve the same outcome with more theater. On launchpads, “the dev sold” is the everyday version.
Not every collapse is a rug — many coins simply fail to find buyers. The word persists because extraction is common enough to feel like the default ending.
Origin
DeFi summer popularized the phrase for projects that absconded with pooled funds. Meme seasons recycled it for any sudden insider exit.
See also
- Jeet A trader who sells quickly at the first hint of profit or trouble — used as insult, confession, and survival strategy.
- The Trenches The collective name crypto Twitter gives to the chaotic frontier of brand-new meme coin trading — especially on Solana launchpads in the minutes after a token appears.
- The LIBRA Scandal A high-profile meme coin episode that became shorthand for insider extraction, political adjacency, and how fast trench narratives can go global.
Category: Lexicon · Last updated 2026-08-08