South Korea · Cointelegraph
South Korea charges CATFI memecoin operators in first DEX rug-pull case: Report
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 2 sources. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
✓ KHAO Verified
South Korean prosecutors reportedly charged a group over the CATFI memecoin rug pull, marking the country’s first DEX rug-pull case under crypto law.
Key facts
- Following its initial surge to an $8.99 million market capitalization in February 2025, the CATFI token has since crashed by 99% to an $57,000 market capitalization at the time of writing
- Prosecutors allege the group promoted CATFI on social media, drove the token’s price up more than 1,000-fold within 26 hours and then sold their holdings for about 400 million won ($260,000)
- Earlier in May, a Solana memecoin linked to Keith Gill’s Roaring Kitty X account suffered a similar rug pull, as the anonymous developer cashed out about $729,000 while the token lost most
- The development comes amid a significant contraction of South Korea's domestic digital asset trading market, which saw trading volume on major won-based cryptocurrency exchanges decline to 8%
Summary
South Korean prosecutors charged a group in an alleged rug pull involving the Solana-based memecoin Catpie, or CATFI, in what local media described as the country’s first decentralized exchange (DEX) rug-pull prosecution. The group was reportedly apprehended by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Division. Prosecutors allege the group promoted CATFI on social media, drove the token’s price up more than 1,000-fold within 26 hours and then sold their holdings for about 400 million won ($260,000) in illegal profit. The move marks South Korea's first arrest tied to a memecoin rug pull under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act and signals that authorities are taking steps against coordinated crypto price manipulation.