Crypto Rug Pulls Hit Record Highs in 2025, New DappRadar Report Shows

Crypto rug pulls are costing investors more money than ever before in 2025, according to a recent DappRadar report. While fewer scams are happening compared to last year, the ones that do occur are much more devastating financially.

Since January 2025, nearly $6 billion has been stolen through crypto rug pulls, with a single incident—the Mantra Network case—accounting for 92% of these losses. This represents a shocking 6,499% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when losses totaled just $90 million.

Interestingly, the actual number of rug pulls has dropped by 66% year-over-year. Only 7 incidents have been reported so far in 2025, down from 21 in early 2024. This suggests that while rug pulls are becoming less common, they’re growing much more sophisticated and destructive.

How to Spot Crypto Rug Pulls Before They Happen

The Mantra Network case highlights several warning signs that investors can watch for. Before accusations surfaced in April 2025, on-chain data showed concerning patterns:

• The platform’s highest number of unique active wallets was just 64 (December 2024)
• Daily wallet activity mostly ranged between 1 and 11 users
• Many days showed zero activity
• Transaction patterns were extremely inconsistent

These red flags point to low genuine user engagement and possibly artificial activity—common signs of projects that might be manipulated to appear more active than they really are.

DappRadar suggests several steps to protect yourself:

• Check for consistent user activity over time rather than sudden spikes
• Look for steady transaction patterns without extreme ups and downs
• Research smart contracts and verify them on block explorers
• Assess team transparency (public GitHub, team information, active community channels)
• Compare new projects against established leaders in their category
• Look for audits and verification signals

The changing landscape of crypto scams also shows that memecoin projects are increasingly becoming targets for fraudsters in 2025. While previous years saw scams spread across DeFi protocols, NFT projects, and memecoins, this year is seeing a concentration in the speculative token sector.

Experts warn that as rug pulls become more sophisticated, investors need more than instinct or slick websites to evaluate new projects. Real-time on-chain data tools like DappRadar have become essential for spotting potential scams before they happen.

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