Trader Loses Over $1 Million in Normie Memecoin Exploit

A Trader's Million-Dollar Loss in the Normie Memecoin Exploit

A trader recently suffered a significant financial setback, losing over $1 million worth of digital assets in the Normie memecoin exploit.

The Investment

The trader invested $1.16 million in 11.23 million Normie (NORMIE) memecoins, with the expectation of substantial returns. However, their investment plummeted by over 99% to a mere $150, as reported by Lookonchain on May 26:

"He spent $1.16M to buy 11.23M $NORMIE at $0.1035 from Mar 25 to Apr 9 and has held it until now without selling it."

The Exploit

Normie, a Base-native memecoin, fell victim to a smart contract exploit that wiped out over $41.7 million from its market capitalization in just three hours. Lookonchain first alerted the public to the exploit in a May 26 post.

Following the exploit, Normie's value dropped over 96%, with its market cap reaching a low of around $200,000 before recovering slightly, according to CoinGecko data.

The Hacker's Deal

On May 27, the Normie team reportedly reached an agreement with the hacker to return 90% of the stolen NORMIE tokens. This agreement stipulated that Normie would use the returned funds, along with $2.3 million from the team's development wallet, to launch a new token to reimburse NORMIE holders.

The hacker insisted that the token launch must precede the return of the stolen funds, as conveyed in a blockchain message analyzed by Lookonchain.

Social Media Scams

Following the hacker's offer, social media was inundated with fraudulent Normie posts, falsely announcing the new token's relaunch to deceive users into clicking malicious links.

The Impact

Over 72,000 Normie holders were affected by the smart contract exploit, which was initially detected in March, according to a May 26 post by on-chain analytics firm Quick Intel.

Despite this setback, memecoin trading remains popular, with traders continuing to invest in animal-themed cryptocurrencies. Frog-themed memecoin Pepe recently hit a new all-time high of $0.00001718 on May 27, surging over 75% in the past week, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Memecoins, lacking intrinsic utility, are highly volatile digital assets. Nevertheless, some traders manage to profit significantly in this high-risk market. For instance, two weeks ago, a Pepe trader turned $3,000 into $46 million, achieving a return of over 15,718 times their initial investment, fueled by the resurgence of the GameStop saga.