Lena Network’s Candy (CANDY) token, a recently introduced liquidity protocol, dropped more than 87% following a 753 Ether rug draw, which at the time of writing was valued at $2.9 million.
According to Dexscreener data, the Candy token dropped 87% to $0.38 as of 12:48 am UTC from a daily high of $3.08, recorded at 5:45 am.
The Candy token dropped when Etherscan’s on-chain data revealed that, on March 6, at 2:30 am, the Lena Network deployer address had transferred 753.11 Ether to an address connected to the OKX exchange.
According to a March 6 X post, the rug pull happened just hours before Lena Network declared that it had formally surrendered possession of the token contract. As of the publication of this article, the protocol has not yet addressed the issue.
According to the protocol’s statement, Lena Network raised a total of over 850 ETH ($3.2 million) for its Candy initial farm offering, which concluded on March 3. On March 6, the Candy token went live sooner but then experienced a steep decline.
In the world of cryptocurrency, rug pulls and hacks are becoming more common. In 2024, there have been 32 separate events involving over $200 million worth of bitcoin lost due to hacks and rug pulls, as to a study report released on February 29 by Immunefi, a blockchain security business.
Comparing the over $200 million loss YTD to January and February 2023, when $173 million worth of digital assets were taken, shows a 15.4% increase.
Over $67 million worth of cryptocurrency was taken in 12 different hacking and fraud incidents in February. Compared to January, when there were reports of $133 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen, this is a nearly 50% drop.
According to a Dec. 28, 2023, analysis by Immunefi, a total of $1.8 billion was lost in 2023 to cryptocurrency hacks and scammers, with 17% of that amount being linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
