We live in the age of the rug.
There has never been a higher cadence of tokens (read: shitcoins) launched per day than there is right now.
Last month alone saw over 500k tokens launch on Solana, 200k on Base, and over 50k on Optimism.
The vast majority (if not all) of these tokens ended up being rug pulls.
However, the reason these projects rugged wasn’t necessarily because they were scams…
The Call of the Jeet
There are three main ‘types’ of rug pulls:
The Scam Rug: When the creators of the token set out to rug from the start.
The Slow Rug: When the creators don’t intend to scam, but they don’t really contribute to or build up the project, so it slowly (or quickly) dies as liquidity dries up.
The Jeet Rug: When early investors make a small profit on the token, but fear the project is one of the first two rugs, so they dump their entire position early, causing a cascade effect until the project has effectively rugged.
Most tokens that last more than a few hours nowadays generally find themselves rugging due to jeets, no matter the actual intentions of the creators.
Once this happens, there is usually no coming back. Nobody knows for sure which type of rug occurred and people tend to steer clear of a token that has just dropped >90% in price.
Imagine a technology that punishes jeets and enforces diamond handedness.
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Anti-Jeet Measures
So the question is, can this be resolved? Is there a way to prevent Jeets Rugs, while still having a fair and equitable token launch?
Decentralize Liquidity Accumulation
The first step to preventing jeets is to decentralize the initial liquidity accumulation.
If a project uses a few large investors to fund initial liquidity, just a single jeet in the nest can be a death sentence.
There are a couple of methods to prevent this:
1. Airdrop Launch
The less ideal of the two options, but can be effective. By simply airdropping a large percentage of the token supply to a distributed user base, you create a fair allocation and decentralize liquidity.
However, this method could lead to irreverent airdrop recipients dumping and causing a mini Jeet Rug anyway.
2. Bonding Curves
The other, more promising option is the somewhat out-of-favor Bonding Curve.
If done right, using a linear bonding curve can effectively accumulate initial liquidity, without the dangers of jeets or airdrop dumpers.
The key is to implement a significantly more gentle price curve to distribute the initial tokens than you would find in a traditional AMM.
In the case of the $MILO example above, 32.5 ETH is needed to raise the price from …015 ETH to …060 ETH.
Even if jeets purchased 15 ETH worth early and then dump at the top of the curve (essentially the worst-case scenario), it would only drop the price by <50% (crazy in TradFi, but recoverable in crypto).
Anti-Jeet Software
The bonding curve works to prevent jeets initially, but a proper liquidity pool will eventually need to be launched for the token to thrive long-term.
This is where the direct “Anit-Jeet software” comes into play.
Time Threshold | Buy tax (%) | Sell tax (%) | Notes |
120 seconds | 50 | 50 | Bot protection |
1 day | 0 | 50 | Anti-Jeet |
30 days | 0 | 30 | Anti-Jeet |
31+ days | 0 | 5 | Treasury funds |
Example of Anti-Jeet software mechanics
Anti-Jeet software is simply a sell tax placed on the official liquidity pool.
Such “sell tax" tech has been around for a while. It was most notoriously implemented by the scam-coin SafeMoon, which ultimately used the tax to fraud holders.
However, the concept of a sell tax itself is not inherently bad. The answer, as with most things in life, lies in moderation.
By implementing a gradual removal of the sell tax over time (approx. 1 month), you can prevent jeets and still maintain community confidence and trust.
It is a simple yet effective measure that stops jeets in their tracks and leaves the bulk of initial tokens in the hands of committed community members.
Rouge LP Taxes
The final step to prevent jeets is to implement a rouge LP tax.
The initial bonding curve distribution and the sell tax on the official LP will likely lead to Rouge LPs (pools set up external to the official Treasury).
If these LPs grow too large, they could become the preferred option for sellers, and the jeets will have a place to jeet.
Implementing a 50% buy-and-sell tax (for example) for all unofficial LPs is necessary for the previous two anti-jeet measures to be effective.
This isn’t to say community LPs can’t occur, or even be promoted as ‘official’ LPs, as long as they follow the initial layout set by the previous Anti-Jeet measures.
Will it Work?
So, will all this actually work? Can the jeets be stopped?
Theoretically, yes, these measures will almost certainly prevent jeets and protect new projects from the dreaded Jeet Rug.
However, (to our knowledge) there is yet to be a token launched that has effectively implemented all these measures at once.
$MILO will be the first token to execute the entire array of Anti-Jeet measures during its launch, acting as an “experimental anti-jeet guinea pig” of sorts.
Should the $MILO launch be successful in its endeavor, it could set a new standard for token launches going forward, helping legitimate token creators thwart the dreaded Jeet Rug.
$MILO token launch overview: Milo Puppy Playbook (Whitepaper) v1.5 - Tokenomics
Can’t wait to see a fair launch for once!