Bubblemaps Practice: How I Uncovered an 'Institutional Endorsement' Scam
Last week, while browsing Twitter, I came across a new project with a very professional promotional page that displayed the logos of several well-known venture capital firms. My intuition told me to investigate further, and as a result, Bubblemaps helped me avoid a disaster.
First Impressions
The project claims to have completed a $5 million funding round, but the white paper doesn't even include a basic token distribution chart. I input the contract address into Bubblemaps, and the bubble chart showed:
- The so-called 'institutional wallet' was actually a new address created 3 days ago
- The initial funds for these addresses all came from the same exchange withdrawal
- The 20% tokens reserved by the team have not been locked up at all
In-Depth Tracking
Using Intel Desk to check the historical records, I found that a user had marked these addresses just last week:
- A single IP operated multiple 'institutional wallets'
- The project CEO's GitHub was linked to similar scam projects last year
- The so-called 'strategic cooperation' token transfers were merely moving funds from one hand to the other
Conclusion
After I shared the analysis in the community, the project suddenly deleted all social media accounts. Those investors who rushed in have now seen their tokens drop to zero.
Insight: No matter how beautiful the official website looks, it cannot compare to the authenticity of on-chain data. Spending 5 minutes checking Bubblemaps could save you 95% of your principal.
