Second Suspected Rug Factory Detected on Rapidly Growing Robinhood Chain
New scam operation targets Robinhood Chain
A second suspected "rug factory" has been identified on Robinhood Chain, a new blockchain network that recently saw its value locked rise to $1.5 billion. On September 28, the security firm GoPlus reported finding a high-risk operation involving hundreds of memecoins.
This new scheme allegedly moved more than $9 million through a shared network of wallets over the last 30 days. The activity follows a separate investigation by researcher Wazz, who previously uncovered a similar operation that extracted about $18.4 million from 53 token launches.
How the coordinated withdrawals work
- GoPlus linked hundreds of memecoins to a wallet network with over $9 million in gross flows.
- Fresh wallets were used to stage token sales before sending funds to shared consolidation addresses.
- The main consolidation wallet recorded approximately 3,589 ETH, or roughly $9.49 million, in two-way flows across 400 recent transactions.
- Operators create tokens based on popular trends, distribute supply among new wallets, and sell using specific contracts like PonsV2Helper.
Differences from traditional scams
GoPlus noted that this setup differs from a traditional rug pull, where liquidity suddenly vanishes or buyers are blocked from selling. Instead, the concern is the coordinated ownership and exit strategy behind many seemingly unrelated wallets.
By spreading the selling process across dozens of addresses, operators create the illusion of independent market activity. The proceeds from these sales are then funneled into a central cluster to fund future launches. GoPlus stated that while the structure is repeatable, there is no evidence connecting this group to the earlier operation found by Wazz.
Rapid growth creates higher stakes
The emergence of these scams coincides with the fast expansion of Robinhood Chain. Launched on July 1, the Ethereum layer-2 network reached $1.5 billion in total value locked in less than 90 days. Token Terminal estimates the chain generated about $50 million in revenue in its first three months.
Robinhood's access to 28.6 million funded customers and $384 billion in assets presents a large potential user base for developers. However, this scale also increases the risk if abusive token launches are not detected early. Security experts suggest that while the network is permissionless, trading interfaces may need to add screening tools to warn users about supply concentration.
What remains uncertain
It is currently unknown if the two suspected operations are run by the same group. GoPlus highlighted differences in their methods: the newer group relies heavily on fresh wallets followed by consolidation, while the earlier group used larger clusters to control supply immediately after launch. Additionally, the $9 million figure represents gross flows, not net profits or actual investor losses.
Why this matters for the platform
The situation highlights the challenge of balancing an open development environment with user safety. As Robinhood plans to bring more of its brokerage audience on-chain, the ability to detect organized token operators will be critical to protecting retail capital.
Source
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.