The developer of Solana-based meme coin, Neiro, has profited $2.85 million in an apparent rug pull.

The $2.85 million profit represents a 5,169x return on their initial investment of just 3 SOL, worth over $550.

The developer initially invested in the meme coin when deploying the token contract, according to a July 28 X post by Lookonchain:

“He sold 68M $Neiro for 15,511 $SOL($2.85M) through multiple wallets, with a realized profit of 15,508 $SOL($2.85M). He also sent 10M $Neiro to the dead wallet, leaving 19.5M $Neiro($1.8M), with an unrealized profit of $1.8M!”

The dev of $Neiro has made 15,508 $SOL($2.85M) with only 3 $SOL($552), a gain of 5,169x!

He spent 3 $SOL($552) to buy 97.5M $Neiro when deploying $Neiro.

Then he sold 68M $Neiro for 15,511 $SOL($2.85M) through multiple wallets, with a realized profit of 15,508 $SOL($2.85M).… pic.twitter.com/0PBP6gpJ0e

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 28, 2024

The developer wallet selling its holdings could be a sign of a potential rug pull, crypto slang for an exit scam that involves insiders quietly selling a large part of their token allocation and exiting the project.

Meme Coin Season Could Be Just Around The Corner

Meanwhile the wider meme coin sector could be on track to witness the next phase of the bull cycle, according to popular meme coin trader Zack Ventura.

The trader wrote in a July 22 X post:

“This index is the top memecoins against Bitcoin, tracing back from December 2023. Next leg up meme coin season is loading.”

While meme coins don’t always move holistically as an asset class, some tokens are still soaring to new all-time highs.

The Solana-based Dogwifhat (WIF) hit a new monthly high on July 18, after an over 41% weekly rally brought it back in the top 50 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Are Memecoins Hurting The Legitimacy Of The Crypto Industry?

The current cycle has seen the debut of numerous celebrity-launched meme coins. While some see these as a sign of mainstream adoption, the notoriously poor price performance of these celebrity tokens may be damaging the industry’s reputation.

The majority of celebrity-backed meme coins fell at least 66% within the first week of their launch, including JENNER, DAVIDO and RICH.

American singer Jason Derulo’s JASON token was also hit with controversy at the end of June when analytics firm Bubblemaps claimed that the singer sold thousands of dollars worth of the token despite claims that he “WILL NEVER SELL.”

The Daddy Tate (DADDY) meme coin, launched by controversial former kickboxing champion Andrew Tate, was also hit by insider trading allegations, with Bubblemaps writing in a June 12 X post:

“Insiders bought 30% of the supply at launch before Andrew Tate started to promote it on X.”