A $10 million mishap involving the Solana-based memecoin Slerf (SLERF) may have been more than just an accident. Some observers believe that it was actually a clever marketing ploy. On March 18, the Slerf project developer made headlines when he claimed to have mistakenly burned a pre-sale allocation of 53,000 SOL tokens meant for early investors. After realizing his mistake, he posted a message of apology on X, followed by an explanation and a profuse apology 10 minutes later. However, what followed was unexpected: the token’s trading volume skyrocketed to over $2 billion within hours.
Despite claims that the burn was accidental, skeptics have pointed out suspicious trades that suggest it may have been intentional. Solana community developer Gary Henderson argued that the burn event appeared to be doctored and highlighted the fact that the Slerf creator’s wallet removed 1,050 SOL from the liquidity pool just before the burn occurred. He believes this implies that the developer was aware of the impending burn and removed his funds beforehand.
In response, the Slerf developer denied any intentional action and stated that he had no intention of burning the tokens. However, Wildcat creator Laurence Day expressed his belief that the burn was likely intentional and designed to generate hype for the project. He pointed out that someone deposited $1.9 million into the liquidity pool shortly after the burn and sold it for $5 million, suggesting that insiders may have profited from the situation.
The Slerf developer has repeatedly explained that the burn was an unfortunate mistake and not a deliberate joke. He claimed that it was the result of a mindless misclick during the process of burning the liquidity pool using the SOL incinerator tool. In a public appearance on March 18, the developer broke down in tears and admitted that burning the pre-sale allocation was a foolish error.
Cointelegraph reached out to Slerf for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Regardless of whether the mishap was intentional or not, the project has gained significant attention on social media and in the market. Slerf has generated over $3.2 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours and is currently priced at $1.08, with a total market capitalization of $540 billion.
It is important to note that there is no guarantee that investors will actually receive a token from the pre-sale, which is why this fundraising model is often exploited by scammers and fraudulent individuals. In the past 72 hours alone, Solana memecoin projects have raised over $100 million through pre-sales.