Question 1

What is a rug check?

Accepted Answer

A rug check is a smart contract security scan that screens a token for rug-pull risk before you buy. It inspects the contract for honeypot logic, ownership renouncement, liquidity lock status, mint authority, blacklist functions, holder concentration, and other red flags — and returns a 0–100 risk score with explicit findings. Sharpe's free rug checker covers Solana, Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Polygon.

Question 2

What are red flags in a rug check?

Accepted Answer

The most common red flags are: unrenounced ownership or mint authority, unlocked liquidity, proxy-upgradeable contracts with a single-EOA admin, hidden or dynamic sell taxes above 10%, blacklist and pause functions, top-10 holders controlling more than 50% of supply, copycat metadata imitating a legitimate project, and recently swapped proxy implementations. A token triggering two or more of these signals is typically unsafe to hold.

Question 3

How do I check if a crypto token is a rug pull?

Accepted Answer

Paste the token's contract address into a rug check tool. On EVM chains (Ethereum, Base, BSC, Arbitrum, Polygon), the scanner runs a simulated buy and sell in forked state to surface honeypot patterns and hidden taxes, reads proxy storage slots, and flags dangerous admin functions. On Solana, the scanner queries the RPC for mint / freeze / update authority flags and verifies liquidity lock status on Raydium or Orca. Sharpe's Rug Check does all of this in seconds for free.

Question 4

What is a honeypot check and how is it different from a rug check?

Accepted Answer

A honeypot check is a specific sub-test that focuses on whether the contract blocks sells after purchase — usually detected via a simulated sell in forked EVM state. A rug check is the broader safety scan that includes honeypot detection plus ownership, liquidity, holder concentration, proxy upgrade, and mint-authority analysis. Sharpe's Rug Check runs both — the honeypot simulation is one of several axes in the 0–100 score.

Question 5

Are crypto rug pulls illegal in the US?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A deliberate rug pull — deploying a token with intent to drain liquidity, minting supply to dump, or silently blocking sells — is securities fraud, wire fraud, and market manipulation under US law. The SEC, DOJ, and state regulators have pursued rug developers (Frosties NFT, Ethereum Max, Squid Game token). Prosecution is hard because devs hide behind anonymous wallets and foreign jurisdictions. Preventing the loss is the only reliable strategy — hence the rug check.

Question 6

How do I know if a memecoin is a rug?

Accepted Answer

Memecoins have a higher base rate of rugs because they launch fast, with anonymous teams, and attract fast money. Key memecoin-specific checks: (1) mint authority renounced (Solana) or owner renounced (EVM) to prevent supply dilution; (2) liquidity burned or locked for 6+ months; (3) top-10 holders under 30% of supply; (4) no copycat metadata imitating a trending ticker; (5) clean proxy status on EVM (no recent upgrades). Run all of these through Sharpe's Rug Check in 30 seconds before buying.

Question 7

How do I verify a Solana token?

Accepted Answer

Three layers. First, check the canonical address — cross-reference the ticker against Jupiter Strict List and the project's official Twitter, Discord, and website to rule out copycats. Second, query mint / freeze / update authority flags — all three should be null (renounced) for a trustable memecoin. Third, verify Raydium or Orca LP is burned or locked and that top-10 holders aren't coordinated. Sharpe's Solana Rug Check does all three automatically via the Solana RPC.

Question 8

What chains does Sharpe's rug checker support?

Accepted Answer

Sharpe's Rug Check covers Solana (SPL and Token-2022), Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Polygon today. Each chain has its own detector stack — Solana uses the RPC for authority flags plus Jupiter simulation; EVM chains use Uniswap V2/V3 forked-state simulation plus EIP-1967 proxy detection. Paste any token contract address and the tool auto-routes to the right stack.

Question 9

Does a clean rug check guarantee a token is safe?

Accepted Answer

No. The rug check catches the largest category of known smart-contract exploits — honeypots, unrestricted mint, proxy traps, LP pulls, freeze-authority abuse, hidden taxes — but cannot detect off-chain fraud (team insider selling after a clean launch, exchange collusion, social engineering, MEV sandwich bots). A green rug score is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Always layer on holder analysis, roadmap diligence, and position sizing.

Question 10

What are the most common rug-pull warning signs?

Accepted Answer

In order of frequency: (1) unrenounced ownership or mint authority; (2) unlocked liquidity (or expiring lock); (3) honeypot logic blocking sells; (4) hidden or dynamic sell taxes; (5) proxy-upgradeable contracts with single-EOA admin; (6) top-10 holder concentration above 50%; (7) blacklist or pause functions; (8) copycat metadata. A single red flag warrants a closer look; two or more means skip.

What is the Rug Check and Honeypot Checker?

How to use the rug checker

Frequently asked questions

What is the Rug Check and Honeypot Checker?

How to use the rug checker

Frequently asked questions