An NFT rug pull is a deceptive project pattern: creators attract buyers with promises, then abandon the project or divert purchasers’ funds before delivering what was promised. The phrase describes conduct; a stalled project or technical flaw alone does not prove a scam.
What “NFT rug pull” means
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York described a rug pull as “a cryptocurrency scam in which a developer attracts investors, but pulls out before the project is complete, leaving buyers with a worthless asset.” In practical terms, the defining pattern is attracting purchasers through representations about a project and then abandoning it or taking funds without delivering the promised benefits. The DOJ’s description was made in announcing charges in a particular case, so its case-specific account must be understood as allegations, not a universal legal test.
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Promises may extend beyond the NFT itself. A project might advertise access, rewards, merchandise, staking-related benefits, or other utility. Whether buyers received those benefits depends on what the project actually represented and did; no single list of promised features defines every rug pull.
What it is—and what it is not
Rug pull versus ordinary project failure
A project can lose popularity, fail to meet expectations, or stop operating without that fact alone establishing intentional deception or fund diversion. “Rug pull” implies a pattern of abuse or deception, but the phrase does not itself prove intent. If the facts are not established, describe conduct as alleged or reported rather than stating that a project was definitively a scam.
Rug pull versus technical vulnerability
A rug pull concerns project conduct: for example, misleading buyers, abandoning a project, or extracting funds. A technical weakness is a separate kind of risk. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s 2024 NFT security publication identified 27 potential security concerns in NFT implementations; those concerns describe technical-security risks, not evidence that a particular project intentionally defrauded buyers. NIST IR 8472 also discusses properties expected of correctly functioning and secured NFT implementations.
The token is not necessarily the associated asset or benefit
An NFT is a unique digital identifier recorded using distributed-ledger technology that may certify authenticity or ownership of an associated right or asset. The associated digital file is typically separate, and NFTs can also relate to event access or physical items. A token’s existence therefore does not, by itself, establish that its holder owns copyright, receives a promised service, or has any particular additional right. Those depend on the project’s terms and representations. This distinction is described in a 2023 SEC commissioner statement.
How a rug pull can happen
Researchers have documented multiple patterns rather than one fixed script. A project may attract buyers through promised benefits and then disappear or divert money. Other studied mechanisms include contract backdoors and market-manipulation techniques. These are categories observed in research, not a checklist that proves fraud whenever one feature appears. A warning sign warrants scrutiny; it is not a finding of wrongdoing by itself. A 2023 study of NFT rug pulls examined on-chain and off-chain information and described several such techniques.
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On January 5, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced charges against Aurelien Michel concerning Mutant Ape Planet NFTs. The DOJ said buyers were promised giveaways, staking-related tokens, merchandise, and other rewards; after the collection sold out, the defendant allegedly stopped communicating and diverted more than $2.9 million in purchasers’ cryptocurrency. The release said purchasers received none of the promised benefits.
These are allegations in the DOJ’s charging announcement, not a conclusion established by that release. The office expressly said the defendant was presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Read the DOJ announcement for its account and qualification.
What published studies can—and cannot—tell you
Study counts depend on the researchers’ sample and detection method. They are not current market-wide estimates, and they should not be read as a percentage chance that any NFT project is fraudulent.
Rank #4
| Study finding | What it refers to |
|---|---|
| 253 initially known rug pulls | The seed set used to build the 2023 study’s initial ground truth; it is not a count of all rug pulls. Study |
| 7,487 labeled projects | The study’s rule-based method labeled this many projects after examining on-chain and off-chain data for more than 173,000 Ethereum NFT projects. The authors describe the result as a lower bound, not a current prevalence rate. Study |
| 84% showed at least one studied trick | This applies to the study’s identified rug-pull projects and its definitions; it does not mean that 84% of NFT projects are scams. Study |
| 758 rug pulls across 10 marketplaces | A separate 2023 behavioral study analyzed this set; it is a study sample, not a measure of the entire market. Study |
| 37 attempted rug pulls in three months | A single collection example reported in that behavioral study, not a general rate. Study |
The available figures do not establish a reliable, current, market-wide NFT rug-pull prevalence rate. NIST’s 27 potential security concerns are likewise a technical-security finding, not a scam count.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteIs “rug pull” a legal classification?
“Rug pull” is a descriptive phrase, not a single legal classification that determines the status of every NFT project. Legal questions depend on the facts, the relevant law, and the particular token or transaction. The SEC’s March 2026 interpretive release addresses how federal securities laws apply to certain types of crypto assets and transactions; it does not provide a blanket classification for every NFT or every alleged rug pull. The SEC commissioner’s 2023 statement also discusses the variety of NFT features and associated rights.
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