South Korean prosecutors have indicted a group on charges of ragpulling involving the Solana-based meme coin Catpie (CATFI). Local media dubbed it the country’s first decentralized exchange (DEX) Ragpull prosecution.
The group was reportedly arrested by the Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Department of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office. The main suspect, surnamed Park, posed as “Ys Father” on social media platforms and falsely promoted CATFI as an independent third party before carrying out a rug-pulling operation that caused financial losses of about 900 million won ($599,000) to at least 256 investors, local news outlet Digital Asset Works reported on Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that the group promoted CATFI on social media, inflated the price of the token by more than 1,000 times within 26 hours, and then sold its holdings for an illegal profit of about 400 million won ($260,000).
The move marks South Korea’s first arrest related to memecoin extraction under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act and suggests authorities are taking action against systematic manipulation of virtual currency prices.
Ragpull is a deceptive exit scam in which a token deployer promotes a project to attract external investment and then suddenly abandons the project and sells the funds, resulting in significant financial losses for subsequent buyers.
Cointelegraph reached out to the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
KOSPI trading volume and won-based Korean domestic exchange trading volume. Source: Digital Asset Works
The development comes amid a significant contraction in South Korea’s domestic digital asset trading market, with trading volume on major won-based virtual currency exchanges dropping to just 8% of trading volume on the KOSPI stock market, Digital Asset Works reported early Wednesday.
Related: Bubble Map Flags Mystery Tokens in Launch Sniper Cluster of 90 Wallets
CATFI token crashes 99% after lag pull
The CATFI token soared to a market cap of $8.99 million in February 2025, but has since fallen 99% to a market cap of $57,000 at the time of writing.
Despite the crash, 1,512 investors still held the token in hopes of a recovery, with the largest holder, wallet 5Q54, holding 18% of the token’s total supply, according to Pump.fun data.
The X account that previously promoted the project has been deleted.
CATFI/USD, all-time chart. Source: Pump/Fan
Fraud and coordinated manipulation attempts continue to threaten the broader crypto space.
In early May, the Solana memecoin linked to Keith Gill’s Roaring Kitty
One unlucky cryptocurrency trader lost nearly $190,000 in meme coins in less than an hour, highlighting the risks of meme coin trading.
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