South Korean prosecutors have charged a group in an alleged rug pull involving the Solana-based memecoin Catpie (CATFI), marking the country's first decentralized exchange (DEX) rug-pull prosecution.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office apprehended the group, with the main suspect, surnamed Park, allegedly posing as "Eth Father" on social media. He falsely promoted CATFI as an independent third-party before executing the scam, causing about 900 million won ($599,000) in losses for at least 256 investors.
Prosecutors allege the group drove CATFI's price up over 1,000-fold within 26 hours, then sold their holdings for roughly 400 million won ($260,000) in illegal profit. This is the first arrest tied to a memecoin rug pull under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
KOSPI trading volume vs. won-based domestic South Korean exchanges. Source: Digital Asset Works
After surging to an $8.99 million market cap in February 2025, CATFI has since crashed 99% to just $57,000. Despite the crash, 1,512 investors remain holding the token, with the largest holder owning 18% of the supply. The project's X account has been deleted.
CATFI/USD all-time chart. Source: Pump/fun
Rug pulls continue to plague the crypto space. Earlier in May, a Solana memecoin linked to Keith Gill's Roaring Kitty account saw a similar exit scam, with the developer cashing out $729,000 while the token collapsed.