Yesterday the memecoin Normie, often previously labeled as a “blue chip” of the Base ecosystem, collapsed by 99% due to an exploit in the token contract.
The hacker was able to mint infinite tokens and dump them on the market in the face of Normie holders, who found themselves with their wallets deep in the red within minutes.
Now the funds could be partially returned by the delinquent, provided that the project developers use 600 ETH out of their own pocket to create a new token and reimburse the scottati users.
Let’s see everything in detail below.
Exploit on Base: the Normie token plummets to -99% and loses 40 million in market cap
What happened yesterday at 12:00 am (UTC+2) is a tragedy for the holders of the memecoin Normie, developed within the much-loved blockchain of Base: the cryptocurrency collapsed by 99% in just a few minutes following a serious exploit.
According to what was reported by the community on X, the hacker allegedly targeted the token contract, exploiting the specific function “swapAndLiquify” which allows minting and selling new Normie coins.
The malicious actor allegedly identified a flaw in the system that allowed him to create unlimited tokens, then dumping them on the market to the detriment of the memecoin holders, who saw their wallet balances plummet (buying the dip is a terrible idea).
Recently another memecoin, namely “HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu” (BITCON) was exploited using the same technique, probably by the same exploiter.
The situation is particularly serious because other projects in the Base ecosystem may have forked the Normie contract, so the damage is at risk of contagion.
How $NORMIE got exploited and went from $40m MC to $100k MC within 1 minute, who else is effected, and what the @NormieBase team can do to fix this situation:
1. The exploiter's wallet was funded by secret network
2. The Normie contact had a premarket user map that bypasses… pic.twitter.com/SuTqTlJf4W
— Golden Degen (@0xGoldenDegen) May 26, 2024
Normie had ridden the meme season of the month of March very well, recording record gains and momentarily surpassing even 100 million in market capitalization.
At the moment of the exploit, the coin was valued at 44 million dollars in market capitalization while now only the cosmic void remains.
Diversi shitcoiner avevano elogiato Normie in precedenza, definendolo “blue chip” dei token Base, particolarmente sostenuta dalla community con una grande produzione di contenuti meme.
Now the account X of the memecoin has been suspended from the platform, so there are no more memes either.
One of the things that is most frightening about this incident is that on the forum “4chan” an anonymous user advised the day before the exploit to sell all Normie tokens as they were aware of what would happen the next day.
L’hack sembra essere stato premeditato.
This is crazy lol pic.twitter.com/8STksXAelL
— me (@mememe69696969) May 26, 2024
The hackers agree to return 90% of the theft provided that a new memecoin funded by the devs of Normie is launched
The story of Normie’s exploit certainly doesn’t end here: a few hours after the incident, the attacker proposed to return 90% of the funds with the remaining 10% as a gift as a “bounty” on the condition that they are not pursued by the memecoin team.
The hacker also asks that the same developers of Normie use 600 ETH out of their own pockets to create a new token to airdrop to the holders of Normie as a form of compensation.
BREAKING: @base MEMECOIN @NormieBase ACCEPTS $NORMIE EXPLOITER'S OFFER TO RETURN 90% OF THE EXPLOITED $ETH UNDER THE CONDITION OF USING THE RETURNED FUNDS AND THE $ETH FROM THE DEV WALLET TO LAUNCH A NEW TOKEN FOR $NORMIE TOKEN EXPLOIT VICTIMS pic.twitter.com/wrETj9KBA0
— DEGEN NEWS 
(@DegenerateNews) May 26, 2024
Gli stessi dev, che controllano un portafoglio con 614 ETH per un controvalore di 2.3 million dollars, sarebbero in questo momento in negotiation phase.
We do not know if a new token will actually be launched and in what timeframe all this will happen.
One thing is certain: the launch, if it happens, will be very problematic and will not be able to fully recover the pockets of investors who have been burned.
Furthermore, as we reported in the previous paragraph, Normie’s account on X has been suspended, so communications with the community will have to go through the accounts of crypto influencers.
We remain in anticipation of new updates and an official post-mortem statement from the Normie team.
And here we are all gone
This meme coin went from $41m to $35k mcap in minutes last night The exploiter agreed to return 90% of the funds if the $NORMIE team uses their 600 $ETH dev wallet to launch a new token pic.twitter.com/hxSlIZkfY8
— 
³🅲🆉 
(@czverse) May 26, 2024
In the world of finance, the terms “bull” and “bear” are often used to describe market trends. A “bull” market is characterized by rising prices, while a “bear” market is marked by falling prices. Understanding these concepts is crucial for investors.
Questo incidente potrebbe sancire una volta per tutte la fine della meme season su Base, che aveva attirato particolarmente l’attenzione dei Degen a marzo ed aprile.
Yesterday, in fact, many other coins based on Base experienced strong dips in conjunction with the incident, except for Brett and Degen which reported quotes in green.
Outside of Base, other top memecoins like Floki, Bonk, and Pepe are showing extremely positive performance with prices about to hit new all-time highs.