About

Rug Pull is an internet slang term describing a sudden and unexpected life change, often a significant loss or disappointment. The term grew popular online in the 2020s with a newer meaning, referring to a type of scam in the cryptocurrency space where developers abandon a project and take off with investors' funds.

Origin

The "rug pull" expression has been a popular expression outside the internet, based on the physical act of pulling a rug from underneath someone, which causes them to fall or stumble. Urban Dictionary^[1] user tallpaul1here uploaded a definition for the slang on July 1st, 2021, writing that the term is used "When life suddenly pulls the rug metaphorically from your feet and your life suddenly changes with some sort of major loss that is unexpected or unfathomable." The post (seen below) amassed more than 25 upvotes in five years.

In the cryptocurrency community, the rug pull expression was repurposed in the 2020s to describe a scenario where developers or founders of a project suddenly withdraw all liquidity or funds, leaving investors with worthless tokens.^[2] On March 24th, 2022, the YouTube^[3] page Coin Market Cap posted an animated video explaining the rug pull scam (seen below), which amassed more than 66,000 views and 1,300 likes in two years.

Spread

The term "rug pull" grew increasingly popular online within cryptocurrency communities, spawning videos and memes related to the malicious scam. For example, in January 2022, Research Gate^[4] user Inte Gloerich uploaded an image macro from Disney's The Jungle Book animated film, referring to the rug pull slang. (seen below)

On April 6th, 2024, TikTok^[5] user @crypto._.warrior posted a Futurama clip paired with the overlay text "When bro puts his savings into a memecoin and it gets rug pulled," which garnered roughly 5,000 plays and 112 likes in seven months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References