The anonymous developer behind the Slerf memecoin has claimed he accidentally burned $10 million worth of tokens raised for its presale.
The memecoin frenzy that has overtaken the cryptocurrency space has seen meme-inspired projects raise millions within hours as investors display unprecedented levels of speculative behavior.
The Slerf (SLERF) presale was one project that recently reached that milestone, albeit with investors now facing a perplexing situation.
Slerf had raised 50,000 SOL (valued at over $10 million) and $10 million worth of stablecoins for its token presale.
These funds, raised from Solana’s thriving memecoin community, were designated to provide liquidity for the token when it launched, with contributors due to receive allocations.
However, in a dizzying turn of events for investors, the Slerf developer announced on X that he had mistakenly burned over $10 million worth of the liquidity provider (LP) tokens and tokens meant for users who contributed to the presale.
He claimed that the mistake was made when trying to clear “shitcoins” received in the developer wallet. While doing so, “[I] accidentally burned them with the pile of other coins,” the Slerf developer explained to the community.
According to the anonymous developer, they also revoked the ability to mint more tokens, meaning that presale investors will no longer receive earlier allocated airdrop tokens. At the same time, the developer does not have the money to refund those who contributed to the presale.
Once i did that I went back to solana tools website and burned the lp not noticing I had burned the tokens just before.
The biggest probly here is I don't have 10m to refund the presalers. I've been up for 3 days preparing this and fumbled at the finish line.
— Slerf (@Slerfsol) March 18, 2024
Slerf Token Launch Proceeds
Despite the massive fumble with investor funds, the Slerf token launch has gone ahead. The project evidently launched with the earlier issued supply before the mistaken burn.
CoinGecko data shows that the project has a total supply of roughly 500 million tokens and reached a peak market cap of $622 million in the hours following its launch. The token is currently trading at $0.79, having reached a top of $1.24 earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the community continues to debate whether the burn was a genuine mistake, a scam attempt or a marketing ploy to attract more investors to Slerf. Others view it as an indirect benefit to the trending Solana coin, with the cryptocurrency’s supply now permanently reduced as a result of the mistake.
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