Normie exploit results in memecoin trader losing more than $1 million.

In a devastating turn of events, a trader has lost more than $1 million worth of digital assets due to the Normie memecoin exploit. The trader had invested a whopping $1.16 million to purchase 11.23 million Normie (NORMIE) memecoins. However, his initial investment plummeted by over 99%, leaving him with only $150, as reported in a post by Lookonchain on May 26.
Normie is a memecoin native to the Base platform, and it fell victim to a smart contract exploit that wiped out approximately $41.7 million from the token’s market capitalization within just three hours. Lookonchain was the first to raise the alarm about the exploit in their May 26 post.
Following the exploit, Normie’s value plummeted by over 96%, hitting a low of around $200,000 in market cap before gradually recovering, according to data from CoinGecko.
On May 27, it was reported that the Normie team had agreed to the hacker’s proposal to return 90% of the stolen NORMIE tokens. However, this offer came with a condition: the hacker demanded that a new token be launched by Normie, using the returned funds and an additional $2.3 million from the team’s development wallet, to compensate NORMIE holders. The hacker insisted that the token launch must take place before they would return the stolen funds, as mentioned in a blockchain message from the exploiter, as seen by Lookonchain.
In response to the hacker’s offer, there was a surge of fake Normie posts on X, falsely claiming to announce the relaunch of the new token. These posts were designed to trick people into clicking on fraudulent links.
According to on-chain analytics firm Quick Intel’s May 26 post, over 72,000 Normie holders were affected by this smart contract exploit, which was initially detected in March.
Despite this unfortunate incident, memecoin traders remain undeterred as they continue to invest in animal-themed cryptocurrencies. Pepe, a memecoin with a frog theme, reached a new all-time high of $0.00001718 on May 27, experiencing a 75% increase in value over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Since memecoins do not possess inherent utility, they are known for their extreme volatility. Nevertheless, some traders have managed to make millions by navigating this high-risk market segment successfully.
Just two weeks ago, a savvy Pepe trader turned $3,000 into a staggering $46 million through memecoin trading. The resurgence of the GameStop saga contributed to the increase in Pepe’s price, allowing the trader to achieve a return on investment of over 15,718 times.
Overall, while the Normie memecoin exploit resulted in significant losses for one trader, the memecoin market continues to thrive as traders pursue potential profits in the volatile world of digital assets.