Suspected insider wallets net $20M on Solana’s Focai memecoin launch

At least 15 blockchain wallets suspected of insider trading have turned an initial $14,600 investment into over $20 million, raising concerns about transparency and fairness in cryptocurrency markets.The 15 insider wallets made over $20 million in profit on the Focai.fun (FOCAI), a memecoin recently launched on Solana’s memecoin launchpad Pump.fun.The suspected insiders have made an over 136,000-fold return on their initial $14,600 investment, which bought them over 60.5% of the total token supply, according to onchain analytics firm Lookonchain. “They then sold all their $Focai for 94,175 $SOL($20.5M), netting 94,108 $SOL($20.48M).”The concentration of such a large share of tokens in a small number of wallets has drawn criticism from blockchain analysts. The situation highlights potential risks to decentralization, which is a key principle in cryptocurrency.The FOCAI token peaked at over $46 million in market capitalization at 4:45 am UTC. The token’s market capitalization fell nearly 14% to $39.6 million as of 11:55 am UTC, Pump.fun data shows.One wallet made nearly $3.5 million in three hoursAmong the 15 wallets, one particularly profitable address, labeled “9DtTb,” made $3.47 million within three hours. Onchain Lens, a blockchain analytics platform, detailed the transaction:“The insider bought 123.32M $FOCAI for 5.39 SOL ($1,168) on Pump.Fun. The insider then sold the entire $FOCAI for 16,070 SOL worth $3.47M. The insider made a x2973 profit.”Despite their intrinsic lack of utility, memecoins can be profitable investments for a small percentage of traders. In December, a savvy crypto trader turned $27 into $52 million after printing an over 1.9 million-fold return on his initial investment in the Pepe token.Over 99% of Pump.fun traders are unprofitableHowever, the majority of memecoin traders remain unprofitable.Over 99% of traders on Pump.fun have lost money or made less than $1,000 in profit.Out of the total 9.8 million wallets, only 50 have generated up to $1,000 worth of returns, while five wallets have generated between $1,000 and $10,000.Only one wallet managed to generate over $10,000 in profit, Dune data shows.