The team behind the Solana-based memecoin SLERF has inadvertently burned $10 million worth of tokens, sparking outrage among early investors.
In an early morning announcement on their X account, the project’s team confessed to the mistake, stating:
“Guys, I f****d up. I burned the LP and the tokens that were set aside for the airdrop. Mint authority is already revoked so I can not mint them. There is nothing I can do to fix this. I am so f***ing sorry,” they lamented.
Despite a 60% drop in value following the news, the SLERF token has surged nearly 2,000% in the past 24 hours and boasts a market capitalization of $289 million. Trading volume for the token has soared to $2.2 billion, according to Dexscreener.
The incident underscores the frenzy surrounding memecoins, which has reached unprecedented levels. While investors expressed dissatisfaction, some view the situation as a potential catalyst for further price increases.
The mishap also sparked jokes that Solana has become deflationary, given the removal of 53,000 SOL from the supply. Crypto tax platform TokenTax pointed out that losing $10 million after raising it constitutes a taxable event.
if you raise 10 million dollars and then lose it all, that's taxable.
— TokenTax (@TokenTax) March 18, 2024
The SLERF team has been active on X, with their latest post titled “I f****d up,” responding to inquiries and extending apologies to affected investors.
The developer responsible for the error mentioned they are no longer in charge of the project but are working on a solution to reimburse at least some of the lost funds.
Solana, the Layer 1 blockchain known for its popularity in trading memecoins, continues to enjoy significant growth. Recently surpassing $200 on March 18, Solana has doubled in value over the past three weeks.
Having surpassed its previous all-time high market cap, Solana has now overtaken BNB to claim the 4th position on CoinGecko.
