The long-awaited launch of BALD tokens on July 30 turned into a disaster after the cryptocurrency suffered an abrupt decline of 90% a day later.
The token, which attracted significant investor excitement and capital, nosedived after a deployer removed millions of dollars worth of liquidity from the market, bringing BALD’s price from 9 cents to 1 cent in a matter of hours.
The move has been later classified as a “rug pull” – a deceptive act where the creators or developers of a crypto project intentionally drain the liquidity or funds, leaving investors with worthless or significantly devalued cryptocurrencies.
What’s even more interesting, the alleged rug pull has been later linked to no other than Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) – the man behind the FTX collapse, one of the biggest financial frauds on record.
Conspiracies began to emerge that SBF allegedly orchestrated the BALD rug pull while being on house arrest in his parent’s home basement. The crypto wallet address used by the culprit previously conducted large transfers of funds with the FTX. In addition, another address recorded $20 million in fund transactions with Alameda Research, another trading firm controlled by SBF.
Charles V Payne, a well-known financial journalist and TV host, dubbed SBF ‘The Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler’ rolled into one on August 1 due to his negative reputation.
“Did this man really just rug us AGAIN from the suburbs?,” crypto analyst and entrepreneur Wendy O asked in a separate Twitter post.
How is SBF linked to the BALD rug pull?
SBF’s links to the BALD fiasco emerged after some crypto watchers said the wallets that were used by the perpetrator to withdraw the funds pointed toward the former FTX CEO.
According to on-chain data, one of the wallets used by the project deployer is reportedly belonging to Alameda Research – FTX’s sister trading firm that was also controlled by SBF.
The data was later cited by several more crypto sleuths on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“[The] BALD dev is like 90% SBF or an Alameda person at this point.”
– said Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures.
SBF has been under house arrest since being charged by US authorities with eight counts of conspiracy and fraud in November 2022 after the FTX implosion, which sent shockwaves throughout the crypto industry.
The 31-year-old fraudster has had limited access to the internet while on house arrest, although it was reported that his legal team and the prosecution have been calling for tighter restrictions due to “too much room for inappropriate conduct.”
