DEFI

Who says turtles can't run fast? Binance Smart Chain project exits, TurtleDex disappears with funds in just one day

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Who says turtles can

Previously, there was a scandal involving Meerkat Finance on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which ended peacefully after the core developer announced the return of funds. However, in less than a month, another incident of project abandonment occurred on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), with approximately $2.5 million stolen. Will Binance be able to assist users in recovering their lost assets this time?

Decentralized Storage Protocol TurtleDex

The project involved in this case is a decentralized storage protocol called TurtleDex, which claims to offer decentralized cloud storage services. The project initiated the token (TTDX) presale on March 15 and due to successful marketing and FOMO among retail investors, the tokens were sold out within just two hours.

The tokens were unlocked and made available for trading on March 18, and the TurtleDex team transparently launched liquidity pools on the two decentralized exchanges, Pancakeswap and Apeswap, on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The token price quickly soared above its presale price due to market speculation.

Token Exit Scam Within a Day

However, just a day after the tokens were made available for trading, a user named Defistalker discovered that the team had withdrawn liquidity from both decentralized exchanges, raising concerns of a potential RugPull scam for TTDX holders.

"Liquidity has been withdrawn from Apeswap and Pancakeswap 10 hours ago, assets have been converted to ETH (BEP20) and distributed to 9 wallets sent to Binance exchange."

At the time of writing, the TurtleDex website is inaccessible, the Telegram group has been muted, and the accounts of the group administrators have been permanently deleted, indicating that TurtleDex was potentially a scam from the beginning. Furthermore, since Apeswap and JetfuelFinance initiated liquidity mining programs for TTDX tokens, many users have criticized these platforms for not conducting proper due diligence.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

As of now, Binance has not responded to this incident. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao hinted in a tweet on March 15 that Binance would actively intervene to help investors recover funds in case of RugPull incidents on projects on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Therefore, the victims are hoping for Binance to freeze the illicit funds in this case.

https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1371866384578215940

However, according to previous reports, if the project team acts swiftly and moves the assets out of the exchange before Binance can react, it may be challenging for Binance to assist even if they want to. With the rise of cryptocurrency scams and Ponzi schemes, it is recommended that investors conduct thorough research and due diligence on projects' websites, roadmaps, teams, whitepapers, etc., before investing to avoid such unfortunate events.