Magnate Finance Rug Pull
Magnate Finance, a lending project operating on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base, has executed an exit scam, making off with an estimated $6.4 million. The project promised high returns on investment, with users reporting returns of up to 1% daily interest. However, the project's operators disappeared with users' funds, leaving investors with significant losses. BaseScan revealed significant missing assets from Magnate Finance, including $2 million in USDbC, $1.56 million in ETH, $1.3 million in DAI, and $408,000 in WETH. As a result of the scam, the Total Value Locked (TVL) of Magnate Finance plummeted from $6.4 million to approximately $107,000. This event represents the second instance of a fraudulent scheme this month on the Base network, subsequent to the vanishing act by SwirlLend who left with $460,000 earlier in the month. The ties to earlier scams and the abrupt erasure of Magnate Finance's online footprint have escalated doubts and apprehensions in the crypto sphere.
The Magnate Finance rug pull is not an isolated incident in the cryptocurrency industry. In May 2023, a project called Fintoch, which claimed to be backed by investment banking firm Morgan Stanley, took off with almost $32 million of its users' funds. The project promised a 1% daily interest for investments from users. However, users of the platform reported that they were unable to withdraw their funds from Fintoch. In addition to this, while the project claimed to be owned by Morgan Stanley, the investment banking firm denied any affiliation with the project. You can expect this cycle of new rug pulls to continue with every new chain that is published.
