On this day in 2021, the world's greatest shitcoin was launched.

Here we are folks, the three-year anniversary of the launch of Safemoon.

I don't even know what to say that I haven't said before, so maybe I'll wrap this up with a cautionary tale as we roll into the next bull market.

Safemoon was launched as a meme-token, which quickly got out of hand. The developers promised the Liquidity Pool was locked, but then repeatedly plundered the Liquidity Pool using an oversight in the smart contract. They used these funds to sell SFM tokens to an exchange for USD cash, which they kept significant portions of for their own personal lavish experiences.

The crescendo of all this was on October 31, 2023. Almost 3 years after launch, on Halloween of 2023 the CEO John Karony was arrested on charges of fraud & money laundering, with the SEC throwing in claims of wash trading too. Currently released on $3m bail, Karony faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison for fraudulently removing over $200m in funds from the Safemoon LP's over the course of a year.

But this post should focus on the red flags, both from the developers and the community.

Red Flags of Shitcoins

• Revolving Door - There was a constant churn of staff at Safemoon, with the vast majority of Safemoon alumni being unable to last one year under John's leadership.
  
• Lofty promises - You'll notice most legitimate Crypto projects know what they want to do, and focus on those goals. Most projects aim to solve a niche problem or create a new market to capitalise on. Shitcoins are ALWAYS talking about how they will "revolutionise" DeFi, or "Bank the unbanked", or how they are "the evolution".
• Attacking FUD - We all know FUD stands for "Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt" but with Safemoon, it took on a new acronym - Facts U Dislike. Sometimes, FUD is necessary. Sometimes, there are red flags, and sometimes, the community needs to grow a pair and read them for what they are, process the information and let it alter their view on their investment.
• Professionals, not kids - Safemoon's CEO was in his early 20's when the project started. The person who actually launched the contract was just copy-pasting other contracts. The alleged "Wizard" was a nobody with loose Solidity knowledge. When the staff of your project aren't experienced developers, scientists, academics, run for the hills. Kids can't build blockchains and new tech.
• Community over Progress - Nevermind the fact that virtually every single promised project from Safemoon was either delayed, substantially worse than promised, MIA, or cancelled, almost every time the investors coped by insisting they were a strong community and their time will come. The idea of community is weaponised to create a generation of bagholders who will scoop up the shit they are given and thank the developers for it. The tech is cool, but we're here to make money, and if your project doesn't have tech, and you aren't making money, then what the fuck are you doing?
• Sunk cost fallacy - Never before have I seen such an prime and extreme example of Sunk-cost fallacy. The idea of throwing good money after bad. Again, this ties in to community and the fake hype behind the project, but essentially the Safemoon sucker community would maybe have thrown $500 or $1,000 in initially, and then they get convinced it will be the next big thing and they "DCA" down.. Except DCA only works when the asset rises again, yet somehow these morons were buying at 20% loss, then 35%, then 50%, then 70%, then 85%, then 90%, then Coffezilla releases a huge expose on Safemoon fraud, and they were buying at a 95% loss, then 97% loss.. and even after the developers are indicted some people were buying more, losing tens and tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

As we move towards a trial for Safemoon, I hope some people learned lesson from the aggregate hundreds of millions of dollars lost from ill-fated members of the community.

And I also hope the indictment & jailing of CEO John Karony serves as a warning for any piece of shit "developers" who wish to operate a DeFi rugpull in the United States.

See you next year for another spin on the "I-told-you-so" carousel.