Meerkat Finance
A BNB Chain yield-vault protocol that lost ~$31M (≈14M BUSD and ~73,600 BNB) one day after launch in March 2021. The deployer used the proxy upgradeTo() function to swap the vault logic for malicious contracts with a permissionless 'backdoor' and drained the vaults. Widely classified as a rug pull.
Also known as: Meerkat Finance
Summary
Meerkat Finance was a BNB Chain yield-vault protocol that lost about $31 million (≈13.96 million BUSD and ~73,600 BNB) on March 4, 2021, one day after launch. The deployer used the proxy upgradeTo() function to replace the vaults' logic with malicious contracts containing a permissionless initialization "backdoor," then drained the vaults. [1][2]
Aftermath
A developer later claimed the episode had been a "test [of] user greed" and promised refunds, but the team's online accounts disappeared. The incident is widely classified as a rug pull (or exit scam). [2][3]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
People & entities involved
Sources (3)
- Meerkat Finance — REKT — rekt.news
- Meerkat DeFi team briefly rug-pulls $31 million before returning funds — Web3 is Going Great
- Meerkat Finance: Anatomy of a $31 Million DeFi Rug Pull — Vidma
See also
- Loci (LOCIcoin)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO for 'LOCIcoin' tied to the InnVenn IP-search platform. The SEC charged Loci and CEO John Wise with fraud for raising $7.6M on false claims about revenue, headcount, and user base; Wise also misused investor funds. Settled with a $7.6M penalty and an officer/director bar.
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Crowd Machine (CMCT)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.