- ZachXBT has flagged Leaper Finance, alleging project heads are associated with previous rugs.
- On-chain detective associates them with stolen funds on Magnate, Kokomo, Lendora, and Solfire, among others.
- Reportedly, scammers let TVL grow significantly before rugging, with projects running on Base, Solana, Scroll, Optimism, Arbitrum, Ethereum, and Avalanche.
Renowned on-chain detective ZachXBT has flagged Leaper Finance, a new project on Layer 2 (L2) network Blast. Blast is an EVM-equivalent optimistic rollup on Ethereum, offering native yield (staking rewards) for Ethereum (ETH) as well as stablecoins (USDC, USDT, DAI) for depositors.
Blast advertises higher speed and cheaper fees besides the passive income incentive for depositors. This explains its allure for projects.
Also Read: Blast L2 backed protocol, Risk, rugs 500 ETH amid shoddy due diligence in project onboarding
On-chain detective flags Leaper Finance
ZachXBT has called community attention to a new project on Blast L2, Leaper Finance, saying, “The group of scammers who stole 8 figs [8 figures] with Magnate, Kokomo, Lendora, Solfire, etc is back…”
Community Alert: The group of scammers who stole 8 figs with Magnate, Kokomo, Lendora, Solfire, etc is back with a new project on Blast @Leaperfinance
Last week they funded an address on Blast with ~$1M of laundered funds from the previous rugs and have begun adding liquidity… pic.twitter.com/yqRKvZuuye
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 14, 2024
According to the on-chain detective, reputed for flagging multiple other rug pulls in the crypto sector, the group funded an address on Blast last week. Specifically, they depositing approximately $1 million of funds sourced and laundered from their previous malpractices. ZachXBT describes these deposits as a liquidity influx intended to bait people.
In the past they let the TVL grow to 7 figs before stealing all of users funds deposited to the protocol and falsify KYC documents + use low tier audit firms.
Reportedly, the group has swindles running on “Base, Solana, Scroll, Optimism, Arbitrum, Ethereum, and Avalanche” networks, ZachXBT says, adding Base-based Zebra Lending to the list of possible rugs.
Update: Same scammers are also likely behind @ZebraLending on Base which is currently live with $311K TVL
Withdraw your assets immediately if you have funds deposited in this protocol.
Tracing:
1) 0x085 transfers 30 wETH to 0x9f8 on Base… pic.twitter.com/Hv0v70azA7
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 14, 2024
Neither Leaper Finance nor Zebra Lending immediately responded to FXStreet request for comment.