According to Solidus Labs, a New York-based company specializing in monitoring suspicious cryptocurrency transactions, more than 500 fraudulent meme coins were launched on Coinbase’s Base network between mid-July and August.
The fraudulent tokens generated about $3.7 million in trading volume on Base. Such tokens include BASEPEPE (BPEPE) and Baby Yoda (Yoda).
In all, the scammers made about $2 million in profits, analysts wrote.
“Creators of fraudulent tokens benefit from hype, promises, and price manipulation,” Solidus said in its report.
Solidus co-founder Chen Arad noted that “people like to create hype around such tokens, and Base generates hype that attracts fraudsters”.
For example, the memcoin BALD, which recently launched on the Base network, rose 400 times in 24 hours before plummeting 90%.
Earlier, ChainPlay analysts surveyed 1,503 cryptocurrency investors worldwide. Turns out the vast majority don’t trust meme coins and think they are fraudulent.