At least 15 blockchain wallets suspected of insider trading have reportedly turned an initial $14,600 investment into over $20 million, raising concerns about fairness and transparency in cryptocurrency markets.
These wallets collectively made over $20 million in profit trading FOCAI, a memecoin recently launched on Solana’s memecoin platform Pump.fun.
The insiders allegedly achieved a 136,000-fold return on their investment, controlling over 60.5% of the token supply, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.
“They then sold all their $FOCAI for 94,175 $SOL ($20.5M), netting 94,108 $SOL ($20.48M),” Lookonchain reported.
The large concentration of FOCAI tokens in a few wallets has drawn criticism from analysts, highlighting risks to decentralization—a key principle in cryptocurrency.
FOCAI’s market capitalization peaked at over $46 million at 4:45 am UTC before falling nearly 14% to $39.6 million by 11:55 am UTC, according to Pump.fun data.
One Wallet Profits $3.5M in Three Hours
Among the 15 wallets, one address, labeled “9DtTb,” made $3.47 million within three hours.
Onchain Lens, a blockchain analytics platform, explained, “The insider bought 123.32M $FOCAI for 5.39 SOL ($1,168) on Pump.fun.
The insider then sold the entire $FOCAI for 16,070 SOL worth $3.47M, making a x2973 profit.”
Memecoins: High Gains for Few, Losses for Many
While memecoins like FOCAI can yield massive profits for a select few, most traders incur losses.
Over 99% of traders on Pump.fun are unprofitable, with only 50 wallets generating up to $1,000 in returns out of 9.8 million.
This highlights the disparity in profitability within the memecoin market, raising further questions about market dynamics and transparency.
