Updated on:12/11/2025 05:51 PM 
In a stunning turn of events, the developer behind the Slerf memecoin project accidentally destroyed both the liquidity pool and 500 million tokens intended for pre-sale participants during a botched launch, resulting in the loss of over $10 million raised from enthusiastic crypto investors.
The weekend had seen Slerf emerge as one of numerous Solana-based memecoins capturing significant attention and investment through pre-sale initiatives, reflecting the broader trend of speculative fervor in the cryptocurrency market.
During this period, Dekadente, a relatively unknown NFT artist, successfully raised more than $30 million worth of SOL through the pre-sale of a memecoin called Smole. Similarly, another digital artist known as Kero attracted over $10 million in funding for their memecoin project named NAP.
Crypto investigator 0xGumshoe revealed that the community had collectively channeled approximately $100 million into various Solana memecoin pre-sales, indicating the scale of investor enthusiasm for these speculative digital assets.
This memecoin mania has propelled Solana's decentralized exchange volumes to unprecedented levels, with Google search interest in the blockchain now surpassing that of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, pre-sales typically involve investors sending digital assets to a designated wallet address in exchange for a proportional allocation of tokens once the cryptocurrency officially launches. However, participation in a pre-sale doesn't guarantee actual token allocation, as these events often carry significant risks.
The popularity of pre-sales has surged dramatically following the extraordinary success of The Book of Meme (BOME) coin, which experienced a phenomenal value increase of over 1,000% following its launch. This remarkable performance led to significant listings on multiple major exchanges, including Binance.
As of the latest reports, BOME boasts a fully diluted market capitalization of approximately $1 billion, cementing its position as one of the more successful memecoin projects to emerge from the recent trend.
Despite the apparent success stories, Ethereum expert Anthony Sassano has criticized the pre-sale model, describing it as "bidding ponzis" that may ultimately prove unsustainable for most participants.
He warned: "Unfortunately, the uncertainty surrounding pre-sales has created an attractive environment for fraudsters to exploit unsuspecting investors seeking quick profits in the volatile cryptocurrency market."
On-chain crypto detective ZachXBT has highlighted numerous accounts of "grifters" capitalizing on the memecoin craze. Blockchain data indicates that one of the flagged accounts managed to raise approximately 4,935.55 SOL, worth around $1 million, for a memecoin that has yet to materialize, raising serious concerns about investor protection in this rapidly evolving sector.
