Suspicions arise regarding RiskOnBlast as the potential inaugural rug pull on Blast following the vanishing act of its presale funds worth $1M. The RiskOnBlast initiative, a gambling platform integrated into the Blast layer-2 ecosystem, faces scrutiny amid the disappearance of its funds, website, and social media presence, as reported by Arkham Intelligence.
On February 25, RiskOnBlast balances plummeted to zero, suggesting a possible siphoning of funds. Initially, the GambleFi project amassed 420 Ether, equivalent to $1.25 million, through a presale for its RISK token, commencing on February 22 and concluding the next day. However, suspicions arose as the team proceeded to transfer funds in Dai batches to ChangeNOW, a non-custodial crypto exchange.
Additionally, Etherscan flagged the project’s address as a phishing scam, cautioning users against interaction.
Coinbase tech lead Andrew Choi sounded an alert on February 25, noting the abrupt disappearance of the project’s online presence.
Did @RiskOnBlast on Blast L2 really pull a rug by deleting their website, twitter, discord after raising 1M+ in presale just now? pic.twitter.com/IrhgAfLd9s
— andrewchoi.sol (🍯) (@AndrewChoi5) February 25, 2024
Subsequently, blockchain analyst Amir Ormu revealed on the same day that the RiskOnBlast team allegedly laundered $850,000 of the embezzled funds via ChangeNOW, utilizing it as a mixer to obscure the transaction trail. Funds were also directed to the MEXC and Bybit exchanges.
RiskOnBlast team has washed $850k of the stolen funds so far using ChangeNOW.
I've found the last destination address of their operation, which they tried to hide using ChaneNOW as a mixer:https://t.co/u3ZPNARWVU
Hope this helps the other sleuths in tracking them. pic.twitter.com/rHYiZgbMja
— Amir Ormu (On-Chain Alfa 💎) (@AmirOrmu) February 25, 2024
The crypto community has mobilized efforts to trace the funds post the suspected rug pull. Notably, one victim, identified as “MoonCat2878,” who suffered a $12,500 loss, contributed 1 ETH to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, known for his previous success in recovering stolen crypto.
I just donated 1 ETH to @zachxbt
I hope he finds some time to help everyone out, but if not, that's all good as well. Zach has done so much good for this space, so can only be thankful for that
Let's try and gather all the information we can about 'RiskOnBlast' in the comments https://t.co/NoRTSmvoE1 pic.twitter.com/JoM5unUd8u
— MoonCat2878 (@mooncat2878) February 25, 2024
Another victim disclosed losses amounting to $10,000.
Got rugged for $10k by @riskonblast
And you know whose fault that is? Mine
It’s part of the game, onwards 😤 pic.twitter.com/ZCNHTGBXd0
— Tenacious.eth 🍌 (@TenaciousEth) February 25, 2024
Despite being announced by the Blast team on February 12, RiskOnBlast raised red flags due to the anonymous nature of its three-person team, as per shared screenshots. The attempts to elicit a response from Blast remained unanswered.
A protocol officially endorsed by Blast already rugged $1.5m ??? pic.twitter.com/TCzSklUwkb
— Prince of Prosperity | Manifesting (@DextMoon) February 25, 2024
Blast protocol, introduced as a scaling solution for Ethereum in mid-November, has amassed $2 billion in total value locked, predominantly from airdrop hunters enticed by promises of an upcoming airdrop in May. However, the platform has encountered technical glitches and controversies since its inception.
