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SafeMoon
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SafeMoon LLC was an American cryptocurrency and blockchain company created in March 2021.[2] The company created the SafeMoon token (SFM) which traded on the BNB Chain blockchain.[3][4][5] The token charged a 10% fee on transactions, with 5% redistributed (or reflected) to token holders and 5% directed to wallets in a different currency, Binance Coin (BNB), controlled by the coin's authors.[6][7] The token reached its all time high market cap in April 2021 of $17b.

Key Information

The SafeMoon company released a minimal-function cryptocurrency wallet and announced plans to release other cryptocurrency products. The company and the token have been the subject of several controversies: having been compared to a ponzi-scheme, not delivering on products, having multiple class-action lawsuits filed against them, and facing serious fraud allegations. In November 2023, the SEC and the United States Department of Justice charged SafeMoon and its executive team with fraud, the unregistered offering of securities, and money laundering.[8][9][10][11] In December 2023, SafeMoon declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy,[12] and as a part of this process was acquired by the VGX Foundation.[13]

History

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SafeMoon
SafeMoon logo
Denominations
CodeSFM[14]
Development
White paperWhitepaper
Code repositorySafemoon.sol
Development statusDiscontinued
DeveloperSafeMoon US LLC
Ledger
Block explorerSafeMoon V2: BscScan
Supply limitSafeMoon V1: 1,000 Trillion
SafeMoon V2: 1 Trillion
Website
Websitesafemoon.com

2021: SafeMoon version 1

[edit]

SafeMoon was released in March 2021. A compound of "Safe" and "Moon". The token was released with the slogan of landing "Safely to the moon", derived from the slang phrase used in the cryptocurrency community; "To the moon" which is used to describe a crypto token "to quickly rise in price". The token had no utility and team when it was launched. Upon release, Vice reported that between 14 March and 21 April 2021, SafeMoon increased in value by 23,225% following celebrity endorsements from musicians Lil' Yachty and Nick Carter, YouTuber Logan Paul, social media hype, new exchange listings, and retail investors. At that time, Vice said that "cryptocurrencies like SafeMoon still have no real-world use."[15] These celebrities were later sued by many SafeMoon investors as part of a class-action lawsuit branding SafeMoon to be a part of a pump and dump scheme.[16] After the substantial rise in price, the unknown developers of the token appointed Braden John Karony as the CEO of Safemoon and registered as a Limited liability company with aims of providing utility to the token. Before this appointment, Karony served as a former analyst for the United States Department of Defense from January 2015 to January 2021.[3]

In May 2021, SafeMoon announced making a presentation to The Gambia to provide "technology for innovation and learning purposes".[17] The project was dubbed "Project Pheonix" (the misspelling of Phoenix being intentional), SafeMoon released a familiar crypto pitch of serving the "unbanked" and claimed to be working with local governments to adopt the token as a local currency. A company run by John Karony's mother ECG LC, was set up in May 2021 to deliver this project.[18] On 27 August 2022, John stated that his reasons for discontinuing his work in West Africa were due to supply chain problems, which is disputed by his mother in the ongoing Project Pheonix lawsuit.[19]

In June 2021, the project began beta testing of the SafeMoon wallet.[20][21] The app was officially released on Google Play in September 2021 and the App Store in October 2021.[22] Critics dubbed the wallet to be a copy of the Trust Wallet owned by Binance.[19] Thomas Smith, who was the CTO for Safemoon, left the company in December 2021 for a role as a blockchain advisor for StrikeX, however, was dismissed by the company after the fraud allegations uncovered by Stephen Findeisen.[23][24][non-primary source needed]

2022: Migration to SafeMoon V2

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In December 2021, SafeMoon developed Version 2 of their token (SafeMoon V2), an updated version of the SafeMoon contract.[25] As part of consolidating to V2, the SafeMoon team implemented a deadline to migrate their tokens, or else investors would be faced with a 100% tax. The team also released a decentralised exchange titled "Safemoon Swap" as the only place where this migration could happen. In April 2022, Safemoon announced a new product, the Safemoon card. The Safemoon card was promoted as a debit card that can be used to pay for goods using SafeMoon (and other cryptocurrencies) for a 2.5% fee. Some experts criticized paying an additional fee to pay for goods, contrasting it to Crypto.com's card which instead rewards users with a percentage return in crypto depending on how much of their native token they are holding.[26] Although the card was supposed to be released in July 2022, as of December 2022 its release has been delayed.

Since the appointment of Karony in 2021, SafeMoon has announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange by October 2021, however, this was pushed to December 2022 and has again been pushed back to the end of 2023. The company also has plans to launch a blockchain, hardware wallet, and to become a macro Internet of things infrastructure on its own blockchain.[27][28][3][29]

2023: LP hack and Fraud Indictment

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On 29 March 2023, hackers exploited a security flaw in the smart contract of SafeMoon's liquidity pool which saw USD 9 million worth of SFM tokens depleted from SafeMoon's liquidity pool causing a drop in the token’s price.[30] After negotiations with the SafeMoon team, the hacker agreed to return only 80% ($7 million) of the stolen liquidity and kept $2 million of the stolen tokens.[31]

On 1 November 2023, a Federal indictment was unsealed, charging SafeMoon's CEO Braden John Karony, Token Founder Kyle Nagy, and former SafeMoon employee Thomas Smith with conspiracies involving securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with SafeMoon. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleged that the defendants misled SafeMoon investors about the accessibility of 'locked' liquidity and engaged in personal trading. The charges reported that as SafeMoon's market capitalization exceeded $8 billion, they fraudulently diverted millions of dollars from the 'locked' liquidity for personal gain. Karony and Smith were arrested, while Nagy remained at large.[32] The charges were brought by the SEC and the Department of Justice with FBI assistance.[33]

In December 2023, SafeMoon declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy,[12] and as a part of this process was acquired by the VGX Foundation.[13]

In 2024 Kyle Nagy resurfaced in Russia, where he filed a complaint with police against two men in the Federal Security Service who extorted 4.5 million dollars from him as "payment for his peaceful stay in the Russian Federation."[34]

[edit]
F1: Safemoon price adjusted to V2 from launch to December 2022. The token has dropped 98.7% in value from its all-time high in April 2021.

Parallels to a meme coin

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The token was described pejoratively in May 2021 as a "meme coin" alongside Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, with much of its value attributed to the result of the 2021 crypto market frenzy.[2]

The developers of SafeMoon were described as having "little proof of previous success",[5] with the token described by one financial expert as "the furthest thing from safe"[35] and that it "doesn't do anything".[35]

Security issues

[edit]

In May 2021, the V1 version of the token was audited by security auditing firm CertiK, which identified a "major issue" that the project's owners have "control over tokens funded by SafeMoon's seller fee".[36][35] An owner address acquire's the liquidity pool tokens generated by the SafeMoon-BNB pool. This gives the owner control over tokens funded by SafeMoon's seller fee. This feature was later the subject of the 2022 Safemoon fraud allegations. London Capital's head of research Jasper Lawler also noted that the Manual Burn aspect of SafeMoon paired with the controlling companies' large stake in the coins opens the project up to manipulation by the project controllers.[37]

Ponzi-scheme comparisons

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After the price of a SafeMoon token multiplied by 12x during a single week in April 2021,[38] opinion columnists in various financial magazines likened SafeMoon to a ponzi scheme[39] or pyramid scheme, where gains to early investors were paid only by incoming investors who expected a similar rate of return, with some citing the fact that each transaction sends a portion of the transacted value to existing holders of the token, as well as a portion of the transacted value to a wallet controlled by the coin's authors.[40] Furthermore, SafeMoon's token economics utilizes a 10% sell tax. This means that for every $1000 sale, an investor would be charged $100. Critics argued that this discouraged investors from selling, as they effectively incur a loss as soon as they invest. The tax from the new investors included distributing a small percentage of it to existing investors.[41]

2022 fraud allegations

[edit]
Coffeezilla is considered to be one of the main investigators into SafeMoon's fraud allegation.

In April 2022, Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen, a prominent independent researcher who investigates crypto scams, accused the SafeMoon team of misappropriating millions of dollars.[42] According to Findeisen, SafeMoon CEO Karony had been removing funds from the liquidity pool which is the primary explanation of the crypto's price pattern (Figure 1). Findeisen found evidence of transactions which showed SafeMoon's liquidity wallet moving funds to a wallet dubbed the "Gabe (6abe) wallet" which withdrew funds to a separate company run by John Karony. Former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas "Papa" Smith, was the only person who responded to Findeisen's claims stating that funds were taken from the "locked liquidity pool" before Karony's appointment. He sent Smith evidence of this in the form of a blockchain transaction showing an outflow of 36.7 trillion tokens from the liquidity pool, dated 5 March 2021.[43]

Class-action lawsuits

[edit]

On 18 February 2022, in a class-action lawsuit filed against SafeMoon it was alleged that the company was a pump and dump scheme. Logan Paul was named as a defendant along with musician Nick Carter, rappers Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty, and social media personality Ben Phillips for promoting the SafeMoon token on their social media accounts with misleading information.[16][44] On the same day, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.[45] Findeisen, who had just shone a light on the 2022 SafeMoon fraud allegations, supported the claims that Paul and Phillips were pumping and dumping SafeMoon tokens during this time which saw a decline of 96% in token price.[46] On 22 August 2022, it was documented that David Portnoy, who was also a defendant in this case, was dismissed from the lawsuit after it was revealed that he never received any compensation from Safemoon for promoting the token and that he also lost his investment from buying SFM.[47][non-primary source needed][original research?]

In May 2022, multiple SafeMoon investors filed another class action lawsuit against SafeMoon for security fraud. The lawsuit which is represented by Scott+Scott, was voluntarily terminated by the plaintiff without prejudice per notice in November 2022. This means the case can be retried if the plaintiff wishes to in the future.[48][49][unreliable source?]

Project Pheonix lawsuit

[edit]

As part of Project Pheonix, a separate company Emanations Communications Group LC (ECG) was set up and led by SafeMoon CEO John Karony's mother, Jennifer, to provide antenna technology to The Gambia.[50] The company has since been seized by Lex Vest Ltd.[17] As part of this venture, John invested $5 million into the project in June 2021. It was claimed that Karony funded this investment from SafeMoon's liquidity pool which was supposedly locked up.[51] As part of this capital investment John agreed 33.34% stake in the company and future profits, as well as his own personal bills, to come out of the company.[52] ECG determined that John Karony created too many regulatory risks and that due to multiple lawsuits filed against him and his company (SafeMoon), they were uncomfortable accepting any more capital investments from him. As a result, John Karony filed a lawsuit against ECG for breach of contract and accused his mother of legal trickery to remove him from ECG.[53]

ECG developed technology relating to Project Pheonix which was presented to John in December 2021. According to court documents, John had been disclosing information about developing technology for the benefit of SafeMoon to make claims on SafeMoon's website and social media accounts about the technology. He was counselled not to do so by ECG (particularly his mother) because of potential adverse effects on pending patents and other intellectual property.[54][55] In March 2022, John and his counsel met with Project Pheonix partners Sankung Jawara and Pa Alieu Jawara, and offered them an upfront payment of $350,000 to cut Jennifer Karony out of the transaction, which they refused. John then negotiated an offer to pay them of up to $4.5 million, to be paid out over time, with the understanding that Jennifer was again removed from consideration. Sankung and Pa Alieu once more refused, due to the proposed circumvention of the business partnership and John's assertion that there was a way to circumvent the legal and parliamentary procedures required for John's desired bank project.[18]

Karony's mother stated that John had not provided a plan for Project Pheonix and was not interested in the content of the financial documents, but was looking for "opportunities to take pictures of the lab to substantiate his published claims of owning ECG labs which he called 'Area 32' or 'DarkMoon'". Due to the lawsuit, Project Pheonix was abandoned. On 27 August 2022, John stated that his reasons for discontinuing his work in West Africa were due to supply chain problems, which is disputed by his mother.[18][56]

Liquidity pool hack

[edit]

On 29 March 2023, it was reported that almost $9 million USD worth of SafeMoon tokens were depleted from SafeMoon's liquidity pool after hackers exploited a security flaw in its smart contracts. As a result, the price of the token fell further in value.[57] The hacker agreed to return only 80% ($7 million) of the stolen liquidity after striking a deal with the team to keep $2 million of the stolen tokens.[58]

Fraud indictment

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On 1 November 2023, a federal indictment was unsealed charging Braden John Karony, Kyle Nagy, and Thomas Smith with conspiracies to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering through SafeMoon.[11] According to the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, "As alleged, the defendants lied to SFM investors concerning whether SFM's use of 'locked' liquidity was inaccessible to the defendants, as well as their personal holding and trading of SFM. As SFM's market capitalization grew to more than $8 billion, the defendants fraudulently diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars' worth of purportedly 'locked' SFM liquidity for their personal benefit." At the time Karony and Smith had been arrested while Nagy remained at large. The charges were brought in parallel by the SEC and the Department of Justice with assistance from the FBI.[9][8][59][10] On 21 May 2025, following a 12-day trial before the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Karony was convicted of all three charges brought against him.[60]

See also

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References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

SafeMoon

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
SafeMoon was a BEP-20 token launched on March 8, 2021, on the Smart Chain, designed with that levied a transaction —initially around 12%—divided into reflections distributed to existing holders, additions to pools, and allocations for development and burns to promote . The project emphasized community-driven growth and long-term holding through its "safe to the moon" slogan, rapidly achieving a peak in the billions during the 2021 bull market. However, SafeMoon's trajectory was derailed by internal , as its executives systematically diverted over $200 million in investor funds for personal luxuries including luxury cars, homes, and travel, prompting SEC charges in 2023 and federal indictments for conspiracy, , wire fraud, and against CEO Braden John Karony, founder Kyle Nagy, and former CTO Thomas Smith. Karony was convicted on multiple counts in May 2025, facing up to 45 years imprisonment, while the token's value collapsed to fractions of a cent amid liquidity hacks and investor lawsuits alleging pump-and-dump schemes. By October 2025, SafeMoon V2 traded at approximately $0.00001 with negligible volume, rendering the project effectively defunct despite attempts at rebranding and supply burns.

History

Inception and Initial Launch (March 2021)

SafeMoon was launched on March 8, 2021, as a BEP-20 token on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), with an initial supply of 777 trillion tokens and a starting price of $0.0000000010. The project originated from a group of developers aiming to create a deflationary token with mechanisms to incentivize long-term holding, distinguishing it from typical speculative cryptocurrencies through a novel fee structure. Kyle Nagy is identified as the creator of the token's smart contract, while John Karony, previously an equity analyst, assumed the role of CEO shortly after launch, leading a team of six executives based initially in Utah. The core featured a 10% on each transaction: 5% redistributed proportionally to existing holders as "reflections" to reward holding, and the remaining 5% directed toward provision and token burning to reduce supply over time. This design was marketed with the slogan "Safely to the Moon," emphasizing stability and growth through anti-dump mechanics that penalized frequent trading. The token's was deployed anonymously at inception, with early pools established on decentralized exchanges like PancakeSwap, enabling rapid community-driven adoption amid the broader 2021 bull market. SafeMoon LLC was formed concurrently as the operating entity, positioning the project as a community-focused alternative to volatile meme coins like .

Growth and Operations Under Version 1

SafeMoon Version 1 operated as a deflationary BEP-20 token on the Smart Chain, launched on March 8, 2021, with an initial supply of approximately 777 trillion tokens following an immediate burn of 223 trillion from the genesis 1 quadrillion total. The core mechanism involved a 10% fee on each buy, sell, or transfer transaction: 5% redistributed as reflections to existing holders proportional to their holdings, incentivizing long-term retention, while the remaining 5% was directed toward liquidity pool additions and token burns to reduce supply over time. This structure aimed to automate liquidity provision and create upward price pressure through scarcity, though it introduced selling frictions that critics later argued concentrated control in early holders and the development team. The token's growth accelerated rapidly post-launch due to on platforms, where the project positioned itself as a community-driven alternative to high-volatility meme coins, amassing over 2.5 million holders by mid-2021. Price surged from an initial $0.000000001 to a peak of approximately $0.000012 by late April 2021, yielding a exceeding $5 billion at its height, fueled by endorsements from celebrities including rappers and musicians like . Operations emphasized community governance through Telegram and channels, with the pseudonymous founding team—later doxxed as including John Karony—conducting frequent updates, AMAs, and announcements of exchange listings on platforms like BitMart and PancakeSwap to enhance accessibility. Liquidity management involved periodic team additions to pools and contract renunciation to mitigate rug-pull concerns, though early trading glitches and high fees drew scrutiny for potentially enabling insider advantages. Under Version 1, operational focus shifted toward ecosystem expansion, including the August 2021 launch of the SafeMoon Wallet app, which encountered immediate technical failures but aimed to facilitate seamless token management and staking. Partnerships were pursued for real-world utility, such as the May 2021 Project Phoenix initiative targeting technological infrastructure in , managed by an entity linked to Karony, though progress reports remained limited amid growing investor skepticism. Token burns totaled hundreds of trillions through transaction fees by year-end, reducing circulating supply, while reflections distributed rewards estimated at millions in value to holders, reinforcing the "hold and earn" narrative that drove retention but also contributed to price volatility as hype cycles waned. Despite these efforts, operational transparency issues, including delayed audits and team allocations of liquidity funds for marketing, foreshadowed later legal challenges.

Migration to SafeMoon V2 and Technical Upgrades (2022)

In December 2021, SafeMoon launched Version 2 (V2) of its token contract, with the migration process extending through 2022 as individual holders completed manual conversions. The upgrade consolidated the token supply at a 1:1000 ratio, converting 1,000 V1 tokens into 1 V2 token to mitigate issues with excessive decimal places and high nominal supply figures in the original contract. The V2 smart contract introduced optimizations for , enabling it to process higher transaction volumes more efficiently than V1. It also incorporated enhanced measures and faster transaction speeds to improve overall reliability and . The fee structure was revised to a 2% transaction on buys and sells, allocated toward provision (0.5%), reflections to holders (1%), and other functions, down from V1's 10% total , with the intent to reduce friction for everyday use and commercial applications. Migration required users to connect compatible wallets, such as Trust Wallet, to the official swap portal at swap.safemoon.net, where V1 tokens were swapped without additional project fees beyond Smart Chain gas costs, typically around $3–$4 per transaction. Centralized exchanges handled conversions automatically for deposited tokens, but self-custody holders faced deadlines and potential risks of incomplete migrations, with support for V1 tokens eventually phased out. During 2022, the process encountered user-reported issues like and interface errors, prompting community guidance and temporary pauses in the portal.

Project Phoenix Initiative and Restructuring Efforts

In May 2021, SafeMoon CEO John Karony announced Operation Phoenix (intentionally misspelled as "Pheonix" in some communications), an initiative focused on deploying decentralized technological in to address access challenges for unbanked populations. The project centered on installing wind turbines sourced from Semtive USA for individual households, integrated with IoT devices and cell tower connectivity to enable in remote areas lacking traditional . Managed by a company operated by Karony's mother, the effort included plans to establish a SafeMoon office in and tie the infrastructure to the broader SafeMoon ecosystem, such as through energy generation for applications or enhanced token utility. Proponents positioned it as a means to demonstrate real-world impact, potentially improving SafeMoon's appeal amid growing scrutiny of its . By late 2021, promotional materials emphasized macro IoT networks linking windmills across the region, but implementation stalled without verifiable deployments or partnerships beyond initial turbine sourcing. The project was officially discontinued, with SafeMoon attributing failure to disruptions—a rationale disputed in investor lawsuits alleging mismanagement and lack of progress. As SafeMoon's token price crashed through , Operation Phoenix was reframed in community updates and CEO communications as a cornerstone of expansion, alongside and exchange developments, in attempts to restructure perceptions of the project's viability. However, it yielded no measurable contributions to , , or operational stability, exemplifying broader challenges in translating into functional utility amid internal leadership tensions and external criticisms. No independent audits or third-party verifications confirmed advancements, underscoring transparency gaps in SafeMoon's promotional strategies.

Liquidity Pool Exploitation Incident (March 2023)

On March 29, 2023, an attacker exploited a vulnerability in SafeMoon's on the Binance Smart Chain, draining approximately $8.9 million worth of BNB tokens from the SFM/BNB liquidity pool. The incident targeted the protocol's burn function, which was publicly accessible and lacked proper access controls, enabling arbitrary token burns that manipulated pool reserves. The exploit proceeded via a series of transactions leveraging a flash loan: the attacker first borrowed 1,000 WBNB, swapped it for SFM tokens, then invoked the burn function to destroy most SFM reserves in the liquidity pool, artificially inflating the value of remaining SFM. This was followed by burning all SFM from the SafeMoon contract itself, syncing the pair's reserves to reflect the imbalance, and finally swapping the manipulated SFM back for BNB at the elevated rate before repaying the flash loan. The vulnerability, introduced or exposed in a recent contract update, allowed this manipulation without authentication checks on the burn operation. SafeMoon CEO John Karony confirmed the breach affected only the SFM/BNB liquidity pool, emphasizing that core SFM tokens and the project's decentralized exchange (DEX) remained secure. The team promptly patched the burn function vulnerability and engaged a forensics to trace the funds and assess the damage. The SFM token price fell over 40% immediately following the exploit before partial recovery. In the aftermath, reports indicated the attacker, possibly operating as an MEV bot, returned a portion of the funds through subsequent transactions, with further recovery efforts leading to the U.S. government forfeiting and returning over $680,000 in stolen to SafeMoon in June 2025 via civil proceedings. The event highlighted ongoing risks in DeFi protocols, particularly around un audited public functions post-upgrades.

Fraud Indictments, Convictions, and Dissolution (2023–2025)

On November 1, 2023, a federal was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging SafeMoon's CEO Braden John Karony, pseudonymous developer Kyle Nagy (known as "Gigamoon"), and executive Thomas Smith with conspiracy to commit , wire fraud, and . The charges alleged that the executives orchestrated a scheme to defraud investors by secretly extracting over $200 million in SafeMoon tokens from the project's liquidity pools, using the funds for personal luxuries including supercars, luxury watches, high-end , and private jet travel, while misleading investors about the of the pools and the locking of team-held tokens. Concurrently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against the same individuals and SafeMoon LLC, asserting violations of antifraud provisions under federal securities laws through similar misappropriation and deceptive practices. In December 2023, amid the mounting legal pressures and following a liquidity pool exploit earlier that year, SafeMoon LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, initiating the of its assets and effectively dissolving the company's operations. The bankruptcy filing disclosed liabilities exceeding $100 million, with assets primarily consisting of holdings and , marking the end of SafeMoon's active development and token ecosystem under its original structure. Legal proceedings advanced in 2025, with Thomas Smith pleading guilty in February to conspiracy to commit securities and wire as part of a cooperation agreement. On May 21, 2025, following a 12-day before U.S. R. Komitee, a federal jury in convicted Karony on all three felony counts, including conspiracy to commit , wire , and , with potential penalties of up to 45 years in and forfeiture of approximately $2 million in proceeds. Kyle Nagy remains a , with the FBI continuing to seek information from victims to facilitate restitution efforts post-conviction. These outcomes substantiated claims of systemic within SafeMoon's , contributing to the project's permanent cessation as a viable entity by mid-2025.

Technical Features and Tokenomics

Core Transaction Fee Mechanism and Reflections

SafeMoon's core transaction fee mechanism, introduced in its Version 1 (V1) smart contract launched on March 12, 2021, imposed a 10% fee on every buy, sell, or transfer transaction involving SFM tokens on the Binance Smart Chain. This fee was divided into two primary components: 5% redistributed proportionally to all existing token holders as "reflections," functioning as an automatic static reward mechanism to incentivize long-term holding by increasing holders' balances without requiring active trading. The remaining 5% was allocated to liquidity provision, where it was used to pair with BNB and add to the project's liquidity pool, indirectly supporting through automated market making. The reflections component operated via the smart contract's reflection finance incentive (RFI) model, where the fee portion was automatically divided among holders based on their proportional ownership of the total supply at the time of the transaction, effectively providing derived from overall trading volume. This design aimed to penalize frequent trading while rewarding passive participants, as reflections accrued only to non-selling addresses and scaled with an individual's share of the circulating supply. However, the high fee rate contributed to reduced transaction volumes over time, limiting the of reflections received by holders despite the proportional distribution.
Fee ComponentPercentage of TransactionAllocation Details
Reflections5%Redistributed to all holders proportionally as additional SFM tokens
Liquidity5%Swapped partially for BNB and added to the SFM-BNB liquidity pool
In December 2021, SafeMoon migrated to Version 2 (V2), consolidating 1,000 V1 tokens into 1 V2 token at a 1:1,000 ratio to maintain value equivalence, while reducing the overall transaction fee to 2% to enhance usability for payments and decentralized applications. The V2 mechanism retained reflections as a core element but at a proportionally lower scale due to the diminished fee, with the structure emphasizing automated pairing over the prior split; exact breakdowns varied slightly in implementation but prioritized holder rewards alongside burns and pool additions to sustain deflationary pressure. This adjustment sought to balance reward incentives with practicality, though it resulted in correspondingly smaller reflection yields amid declining project activity.

Liquidity and Burning Components

SafeMoon's liquidity mechanism in its (V1) token contract, deployed on the Smart Chain in March 2021, allocates 5% of the 10% transaction fee—applicable to both buys and sells—to automatic liquidity provision. This portion is used to acquire BNB via a decentralized exchange and pair it with SafeMoon tokens, which are then added to the project's primary liquidity pool, enhancing pool depth and reducing slippage for larger trades. The process aims to support price stability and long-term holding by incrementally growing liquidity without requiring manual interventions from liquidity providers. The burning component in V1 relies on manual reductions in token supply rather than automated per-transaction burns. At genesis, developers immediately burned 223 trillion tokens from the initial 1 quadrillion supply, leaving approximately 777 trillion in circulation after allocations for liquidity (10%), marketing (5%), and team (5%) wallets. The team conducted periodic manual burns thereafter, transferring tokens to a dead wallet address to permanently remove them from circulation, with the intent of creating deflationary pressure to counteract the reflections distributed to holders. These burns were announced via official channels, though their frequency and scale varied, and no fixed schedule was contractually enforced. With the migration to SafeMoon V2 in early 2022, the allocation persisted in a modified form within a revised —reducing overall taxes to 2% on buys and up to 12% on sells, with portions directed to pairing similar to V1—but without an integrated automatic mechanism or dedicated burn wallet. Manual burns continued as a discretionary tool, though the protocol's evolution toward multi-chain support introduced complexities in tracking burned supply across networks. A 2023 update added a public function intended for supply reduction, but it was exploited due to inadequate safeguards, allowing unauthorized burns of pool tokens and resulting in an $8.9 million drain—highlighting vulnerabilities in the mechanism rather than altering its core deflationary purpose.

Smart Contract Evolutions and Version Changes

SafeMoon's initial , version 1 (V1), deployed on the Binance Smart Chain in March 2021, implemented a 10% transaction structure: 5% redistributed as reflections to existing holders proportional to their stake, and 5% allocated to automatic provision by pairing with BNB and adding to the pool. This design aimed to incentivize holding through passive rewards while supporting via growth, though it drew for high fees potentially hindering trading volume and utility. On December 13, 2021, SafeMoon launched version 2 (V2) via a new smart contract at address 0x42981d0bfbAf196529376EE702F2a9EB9092fc25, replacing the V1 contract at 0x8076C74C5e3F5852037F31Ff0093Eeb8c8ADd8D3. The upgrade featured a mandatory 1000:1 token consolidation for migrated holdings—converting 1,000 V1 tokens to 1 V2 token—to address the inflated supply exceeding 500 trillion tokens, thereby reducing circulating supply to approximately 500 billion while preserving relative holder proportions. Migration was voluntary and handled through an official portal, with unmigrated V1 tokens retaining value only on the deprecated contract, effectively stranding non-participants. V2's reduced the transaction to 2% to enhance and encourage broader : 1% allocated to reflections for holders and 1% to provision, a shift from V1's higher taxes that aimed to balance rewards with reduced friction for transfers and trades. Additional functions were integrated, including automated token burns to promote and a growth fund for development, expanding beyond V1's core reflection and mechanics to include explicit supply reduction and project allocation components during trades. These modifications sought improved and , such as better access controls and in distribution, though the contract retained central elements like reflection interfaces (RFI) for static rewards. Subsequent tokenomics adjustments in May 2023 further evolved the model without a full version redeployment, lowering fees to 1% across all transactions while preserving the 0.25% SWaP (SafeMoon Wallet Protocol) fee for internal ecosystem transfers, reflecting ongoing efforts to adapt to market demands amid declining activity. However, these changes occurred post-V2 migration and did not involve a new contract address, distinguishing them from the foundational V1-to-V2 overhaul. No further major smart contract versions were deployed by October 2025, as project dissolution following fraud indictments halted development.

Blockchain Migrations and Compatibility Issues

SafeMoon's initial , version 1 (V1), operated as a BEP-20 token on the Smart Chain (BSC), launched in March 2021. In December 2021, the project introduced SafeMoon V2, an upgraded on the same , featuring revised including reduced transaction fees (from 10% to 2% split among reflections, liquidity, and burning) and a 1:1,000 token consolidation ratio to address supply concerns. Holders were required to migrate V1 tokens to V2 via an official consolidation tool on the SafeMoon website or compatible wallets, a process that automatically converted eligible V1 holdings while leaving unmigrated tokens subject to a 100% transaction tax post-deadline, effectively immobilizing them. The migration encountered widespread compatibility issues, particularly with wallet integrations and user interfaces. Reports from early 2022 highlighted problems such as V2 tokens failing to appear in wallets like Trust Wallet after consolidation, discrepancies in post-migration token balances (e.g., fewer tokens than expected due to consolidation miscalculations or failed transactions), and errors in explorers or tracking tools like Koinly, where V1 and V2 transactions appeared as separate assets requiring manual reconciliation. These stemmed from the need for users to manually approve contract interactions, refresh wallet data via specific dApps (e.g., PancakeSwap for verification), or handle gas fee optimizations on BSC, exacerbating issues for non-technical holders. Community forums documented thousands of support queries, with some users unable to migrate due to outdated wallet versions or network congestion during peak periods. V2 also introduced partial backward incompatibility for certain DeFi protocols; early forks of SafeMoon's on PancakeSwap faced transfer failures due to unupdated router addresses, requiring developers to modify approval mechanisms for V2 liquidity pairs. While the aimed to enhance and efficiency—such as improved anti-bot measures—the migration process highlighted BSC's limitations in seamless token s without cross-chain bridges, leading to stranded assets for an estimated minority of holders who delayed or botched the process. In March 2025, amid post-dissolution community efforts, the SFM token initiated a migration to the Solana blockchain, shifting from BSC's EVM-compatible environment to Solana's Rust-based, high-throughput architecture to pursue lower fees and faster settlements. Supported by exchanges like Bitrue, this involved token burns (e.g., 2.2 trillion SFM) and airdrops, correlating with a 50% price surge, but introduced new compatibility challenges: Solana's non-EVM nature necessitated fresh wallet setups (e.g., Phantom over ), disrupted prior BSC DeFi integrations, and risked liquidity fragmentation as BSC pools were deprecated without automated bridges. No major exploits were reported, though the move's viability remained tied to decentralized proposals amid the project's legal fallout.

Community Engagement and Adoption

Viral Marketing and Social Media Strategies

SafeMoon's marketing efforts centered on community-driven hype across platforms following its launch on March 12, 2021. The project rapidly amassed followers by branding supporters as the "SafeMoon Army," fostering a sense of collective momentum through slogans like "Safely to the moon," which resonated with speculative crypto enthusiasts seeking rapid gains. Platforms such as , , and served as primary channels, where users shared memes, testimonials, and promotional videos highlighting the token's reflection mechanism—redistributing fees to holders—to incentivize viral sharing and recruitment of new participants. Influencer endorsements played a key role in amplifying reach, with high-profile figures including boxer , rapper , and YouTuber publicly promoting the token in early 2021, drawing in younger demographics unfamiliar with traditional finance. These tactics, combined with organic community shilling motivated by potential rewards from holding and price surges, propelled SafeMoon to over 500,000 holders within weeks, though such strategies relied heavily on speculative fervor rather than utility. The approach mirrored broader dynamics, where and FOMO () drove adoption, but it also drew scrutiny for resembling pump-and-dump patterns incentivized by the token's fee structure. By mid-2021, SafeMoon's social media presence expanded to include targeted campaigns on and , with influencers like John Karony (operating under handles such as "The Wolf of All Streets") leveraging large followings to tout ecosystem developments and partnerships. This sustained engagement tactics contributed to peak exceeding $5 billion in April 2021, though subsequent declines highlighted the fragility of hype-dependent growth absent verifiable fundamentals.

Holder Incentives and Long-Term Holding Culture

SafeMoon's core holder incentive was its reflection mechanism, under which 5% of the 10% transaction fee on buys and sells was automatically redistributed as static rewards to existing token holders in proportion to their holdings. This provided from network activity without requiring active trading, thereby encouraging retention to maintain eligibility for ongoing distributions. The design penalized frequent transactions—particularly sells—via the fee deduction, theoretically reducing supply velocity and rewarding patience over . This structure fostered a centered on long-term holding, dubbed "HODLing," with proponents arguing it aligned participant interests toward growth rather than quick exits. SafeMoon's developers and early positioned the token as "encoded to benefit long-term holders," cultivating a dedicated "SafeMoon " that emphasized , viral advocacy, and endurance through market volatility. Community forums and official communications reinforced this by highlighting how reflections compounded for steadfast holders, aiming to build a base less susceptible to pump-and-dump dynamics common in meme coins. In practice, the incentives initially correlated with rapid holder growth, as the promise of reflections drew in participants seeking dividend-like yields amid 2021's bull market, though sustained efficacy depended on transaction volume for reward generation. Subsequent tokenomic adjustments in SafeMoon V2, effective August 2021, refined fees (to 12% on buys and sells) while preserving reflections, intending to further embed holding behavior amid evolving migrations.

Partnerships, Ecosystem Builds, and Developer Activity

SafeMoon announced multiple partnerships during its early growth phase, primarily with niche projects and services aimed at expanding utility. In 2021, the project revealed a collaboration with , a fiat-to-crypto , to enable easier on-ramps for users purchasing SFM tokens. Additional announcements included token partnerships with EverGrow Coin in February 2022 for cross-promotion and liquidity support, and with Pige Inu in July 2022 to integrate branding with NFTs and streetwear. In July 2022, MetFX, a watch-to-earn platform, disclosed a corporate tie-up to leverage SafeMoon's community for content distribution. Later efforts, such as a 2025 partnership with CabanaExchange for enhanced trading features and Fitburn_ai for AI-driven fitness NFTs, appeared promotional via but lacked evidence of substantive implementation or sustained activity. Ecosystem development focused on building DeFi tools like SafeMoon Swap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) launched to facilitate token swaps with integrated reflection mechanics, though trading volume remained untracked and low post-launch. The project also released a in 2022, described as minimal-function for storing and managing SFM, alongside plans for NFT marketplaces and payment solutions that were announced but not fully realized amid operational challenges. V2 smart contract upgrades in 2022 aimed to improve compatibility and reduce fees, including migrations to support broader chain integrations, but these faced compatibility issues and contributed to liquidity concerns. By 2025, community-driven initiatives emerged, such as burning 2.2 trillion SFM tokens and planning a memecoin launch on Solana to revive liquidity, though these diverged from the original BSC-based ecosystem. Developer activity was limited, with primary repositories hosting forked smart contracts for the RFI and auto-liquidity features but showing sparse commits beyond initial deployment in 2021. protocol remained largely closed-source, restricting external contributions, and public reports noted near-nonexistent updates by mid-2021. Following U.S. Department of Justice indictments in November 2023 for and the project's dissolution, official development ceased, shifting any residual efforts to community forks or unrelated clones rather than sustained ecosystem expansion.

Market Performance

Early Price Surges and Peak Valuation

SafeMoon was launched on March 8, 2021, on the Smart Chain, starting with an initial price of $0.0000000010 and a total supply of 777 trillion tokens. The token experienced rapid early adoption driven by promotion and its unique , which included a 10% transaction fee redistributing rewards to holders, fostering a "hold and earn" incentive. From March 12 to April 20, 2021, SafeMoon's surged over 55,000%, reflecting intense speculative interest amid the broader bull market and hype. This growth propelled the token to its all-time high of approximately $0.00001399 on April 20, 2021. At its peak, SafeMoon achieved a of $5.7 billion, marking its highest valuation before subsequent declines. The surge was characterized by high trading volumes and listings on decentralized exchanges like PancakeSwap, amplifying liquidity and visibility.

Volatility, Declines, and Influencing Factors

SafeMoon's SFM token displayed extreme volatility characteristic of speculative meme coins, surging rapidly in its early months before experiencing prolonged declines exceeding 99% from its peak. The token reached its all-time high of approximately $0.000014 on April 20, 2021, driven by viral promotion and hype around its reflection mechanism, achieving a briefly over $5 billion. Following this peak, the price began a sharp descent amid the broader market correction in mid-2021, dropping to around $0.0000015 by year-end, a decline of over 89% from the high, as investor enthusiasm waned and selling pressure mounted from early holders cashing out. Subsequent declines were exacerbated by project-specific risks, including changes and security vulnerabilities. The transition to SafeMoon V2 in late 2021 involved a 12:1 token consolidation that effectively burned 90% of the supply to address scalability issues, but this adjustment failed to stem the price erosion, with values continuing to slide into 2022 amid the crypto winter and revelations of internal mismanagement. By early 2022, the token had lost over 77% of its value from highs, reflecting diminished and fading community trust. A major catalyst for further volatility occurred on March 28, 2023, when an exploit in the updated allowed a to drain $8.9 million in tokens from the liquidity pool via a manipulated function, triggering an immediate price plunge and heightened fears of protocol instability. Although the attacker later agreed to return 80% of the funds ($7.1 million), the incident underscored ongoing technical flaws, contributing to sustained downward pressure. Legal developments amplified the declines, with federal indictments unsealed on November 1, 2023, charging founders Braden Karony, Kyle Nagy, and Thomas Smith with and for allegedly diverting over $200 million in investor funds to personal luxuries like luxury cars and mansions. The token's halved from about $50 million within hours of the announcement, dropping to lows not seen since launch. This was followed by a Chapter 7 filing in December 2023, which caused an additional 18% price crash, signaling operational collapse. Karony's conviction on May 21, 2025, for fraud further eroded any remaining investor confidence, leaving the token trading at fractions of a cent with minimal liquidity. Key influencing factors included the token's reliance on hype-driven demand without substantial utility, low trading volumes amplifying swings, and cascading negative events like exploits and regulatory scrutiny, which collectively destroyed perceived value and deterred new entrants. Broader , such as Bitcoin's halving cycles and macroeconomic pressures, interacted with these internal failures to perpetuate the downward trajectory, resulting in a 99.9% loss from peak by mid-2023.

Trading Metrics, Listings, and Liquidity Dynamics

SafeMoon V2 (SFM) exhibits subdued trading metrics as of October 2025, with 24-hour trading volumes typically ranging from $14,000 to $21,000 across aggregated exchanges, reflecting diminished market interest compared to its 2021 launch period when daily volumes exceeded millions during peak hype. The token's price hovers around $0.000010 USD, with circulating supply exceeding 500 billion tokens post-burns and migrations, contributing to high volatility but low absolute . Historical data indicates sporadic surges, such as a 30% price jump in early 2025 tied to announced Solana migration efforts, yet overall metrics underscore a contraction from initial speculative fervor. Listings for SFM remain concentrated on decentralized exchanges (DEXes) like PancakeSwap on Smart Chain, with limited centralized exchange (CEX) presence including .io and occasional ramps via aggregators. Early expansions to CEXes such as Bitforex and BitMart in were reversed amid regulatory scrutiny and internal scandals, leading to delistings that constrained accessibility and further depressed trading activity. No major tier-1 CEX listings persist as of late 2025, with trading primarily occurring on BSC and emerging Solana pairs, amplifying reliance on DEX liquidity. Liquidity dynamics are governed by the protocol's fee structure, where a portion of transactions (historically 5-10%) automatically accrues to liquidity pools, aiming to stabilize pricing through constant product automated market makers (AMM). However, the March 2023 liquidity pool exploit, which drained approximately $8.9 million via manipulated token approvals and faulty migration code, severely eroded pool depths and investor confidence, resulting in fragmented and shallow liquidity thereafter. Post-exploit, pool sizes have remained modest, with current estimates under $1 million in total value locked across primary pairs, exacerbated by chain migrations from BSC to Solana and reduced transaction throughput. This has fostered illiquidity risks, including slippage on larger trades and vulnerability to manipulations, despite ongoing burns intended to supply.

Status as of October 2025

As of October 2025, SafeMoon V2 (SFM) trades at approximately $0.000010 USD, reflecting a under $100,000 and negligible 24-hour trading volume around $14,000. The token's liquidity remains fragmented across decentralized exchanges on the Smart Chain, with no significant relistings on major centralized platforms following earlier delistings amid regulatory scrutiny. Community-driven trading persists at low levels, but holder counts have substantially declined from peaks in 2021, correlating with sustained price erosion and loss of retail interest. Legal resolutions have further diminished SafeMoon's operational viability. On May 21, 2025, former CEO Braden John Karony was convicted by a federal jury in on charges including conspiracy to defraud the , wire fraud, and , stemming from allegations of siphoning over $200 million in investor funds through opaque token mechanics and personal enrichment schemes. SafeMoon US LLC, the entity's primary operating arm, entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, with a proposing a $12 million settlement to a class of defrauded investors on September 18, 2025, funded partly from recovered assets. The U.S. Department of Justice continues victim restitution efforts via civil asset forfeiture, having returned over $680,000 in tied to SafeMoon-related thefts by June 2025, though full recovery remains limited. No active development or ecosystem expansions have occurred since the 2023 multichain migration failures and a prior liquidity pool exploit, leaving the protocol stagnant without audited upgrades or new integrations. Regulatory designations as a fraudulent scheme by U.S. authorities, including ongoing SEC actions, have entrenched SafeMoon's reputation as a cautionary example of unsustainable models, with investor claims processes ongoing but payouts capped far below peak valuations.

Controversies and Criticisms

Meme Coin Characteristics and Speculative Nature

SafeMoon exemplifies traits through its emphasis on viral community engagement and symbolic branding over substantive technological or economic utility. Originating in March 2021 on the Binance Smart Chain, the token drew inspiration from deflationary mechanics and holder rewards, akin to predecessors like , but positioned itself via aggressive promotion targeting retail investors seeking quick gains. Its and , including phrases like "to the moon," reinforced a speculative, hype-driven detached from verifiable fundamentals. Central to its design were tokenomics imposing a 10% fee on transactions: 5% redistributed proportionally to holders as reflections to encourage retention, and 5% directed toward provision and token burns to simulate . While proponents argued this fostered a "hodl" culture reducing sell pressure, critics highlighted how such reflections rely on perpetual transaction volume from new entrants, creating a feedback loop vulnerable to shifts rather than intrinsic value generation. This structure amplified , as early price appreciation—peaking at over $10 billion within weeks of launch—stemmed primarily from FOMO-induced buying rather than adoption of any ecosystem services. By early 2025, SafeMoon's developers publicly embraced a pure memecoin identity, burning 2.2 trillion tokens and forgoing centralized utility development in favor of decentralized community governance. This pivot underscored the project's speculative core, where value derives from collective belief and meme propagation on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), absent robust use cases beyond trading and holding. High transaction fees further deterred practical utility, positioning SafeMoon as a high-volatility gamble prone to pump-and-dump dynamics, with post-peak declines exceeding 99% from highs, illustrating meme coins' reliance on exogenous hype over sustainable economics.

Ponzi Scheme Analogies and Sustainability Debates

SafeMoon's featured a transaction structure of approximately 10-12% on buys and sells, allocating portions to token burns for , reflections distributed to existing holders, and additions to liquidity pools. Critics analogized this to or schemes, arguing that reflections primarily benefited early holders through fees extracted from new participants, creating a dependency on continuous inflows to sustain rewards and price appreciation, while high sell fees discouraged exits and incentivized recruitment of additional buyers. Analyst , in investigative videos released in 2022, described SafeMoon's model as enabling a "billion dollar fraud," highlighting how the fee mechanism masked underlying extraction of funds by insiders while resembling dynamics in rewarding holders disproportionately from newcomer activity. Similarly, comparisons were drawn to the BitConnect scheme, where promised yields funded by new investments without underlying value generation. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in its November 1, 2023, charges against SafeMoon executives, alleged misleading promises of value accrual that failed to materialize, though focusing on unregistered securities and fund misappropriation rather than explicitly labeling the as Ponzi-like. Supporters countered that SafeMoon differed from classic Ponzi schemes, as rewards were transparently coded into smart contracts without centralized control or guaranteed returns, positioning it as an innovative DeFi protocol fostering long-term holding via aligned incentives. Community advocates emphasized the absence of admin keys for arbitrary payouts and the project's roadmap for utility development, such as wallets and exchanges, as evidence of sustainable intent beyond . Debates on centered on the model's reliance on hype-driven absent robust ; empirical showed a peak market capitalization exceeding $5 billion in April 2021 followed by over 99% decline by late 2023, underscoring vulnerability to waning inflows. Analysts noted that while deflationary burns aimed to enhance , the lack of real-world applications and repeated delays in deliverables rendered the protocol prone to collapse once growth stalled, fueling arguments that such designs prioritize short-term pumps over enduring economic viability. Legal proceedings, including convictions, further eroded confidence, with critics viewing the as inherently unstable without external value drivers.

Security Flaws Beyond the 2023 Hack

SafeMoon's for version 1, deployed in March 2021, exhibited significant centralization risks identified in independent conducted shortly after launch. CertiK's , completed in early May 2021, uncovered 13 issues, including one major concern related to centralized control in the addLiquidity function, which allowed the contract owner to accumulate a disproportionate share of liquidity provider (LP) tokens over time, potentially enabling manipulation of the liquidity pool. This centralization contradicted claims of , as the owner retained privileges to alter fee structures, exclude specific addresses from transaction fees and rewards, blacklist addresses to block transfers, and pause operations entirely. A concurrent audit by HashEx, also in May 2021, identified 12 vulnerabilities, two of which were rated critical and three high-risk, highlighting a potential "backdoor" mechanism permitting the owner to adjust transfer commissions up to 100%, which could facilitate a rug pull by draining or rendering tokens worthless. Additional flaws included the ability to selectively exclude holders from reflection rewards—undermining the token's deflationary model—and to block arbitrary addresses from participating in transfers, exposing users to arbitrary risks without recourse. These features, while intended for administrative flexibility, created exploitable asymmetries where a compromised or malicious owner could extract value from the $167 million pool at the time, affecting over 2 million holders. The migration to SafeMoon V2 in late 2021 introduced further risks, as the updated contract was not audited by CertiK and retained elements of owner control, amplifying vulnerabilities in an unaudited codebase. Minor but persistent issues from V1, such as non-withdrawable BNB trapped in the swapAndLiquify function and the potential for owners to regain control post-renouncement via lock mechanisms, carried over or persisted in design philosophy, eroding trust in the protocol's immutability. Collectively, these flaws underscored a pattern of prioritizing developer convenience over robust, decentralized security, rendering the protocol susceptible to insider abuse rather than external exploits alone.

Internal Fraud Allegations Against Founders

On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a three-count indictment in the Eastern District of New York charging SafeMoon executives Braden John Karony (CEO), Kyle Nagy (token creator and founder), and Thomas Smith (former chief technology officer) with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The allegations centered on an internal scheme where the executives misrepresented SafeMoon's liquidity pools—funds intended to support token trading and price stability—as "locked" and inaccessible to insiders, while secretly diverting over $200 million in cryptocurrency assets, primarily SafeMoon (SFM) tokens and Binance Coin (BNB), for personal enrichment. The executives allegedly exploited their control over SafeMoon's smart contracts to bypass the protocol's 10% transaction fee mechanism, which was designed to redistribute rewards to holders and fund liquidity; instead, they executed direct transfers of assets from the pools to private wallets, evading fees and public visibility. Proceeds funded luxury expenditures, including Karony's purchase of a $2.2 million home in Utah and multiple high-end vehicles, as well as Smith's acquisition of a custom Porsche valued at approximately $860,000 using 2,900 BNB. To conceal the scheme, they routed funds through numerous unhosted wallets, pseudonymous exchange accounts, and layered transactions, while publicly denying personal holdings or sales of SFM despite profiting millions at the token's peak valuation exceeding $8 billion. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed parallel civil charges against SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, Nagy, Karony, and Smith, accusing them of defrauding investors through unregistered securities offerings and manipulative trading practices, such as wash trading by Karony to inflate perceived volume. Disclosure of the liquidity pool manipulations on April 20, 2021, triggered a roughly 50% immediate drop in SFM's price, wiping out significant value. Karony was arrested in , and Smith in , on the day the indictment was unsealed, while Nagy remained at large as of the charges' announcement. Following a 12-day federal trial in , a convicted Karony on all counts on May 21, 2025, ordering forfeiture of properties worth about $2 million; he faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison for misappropriating over $9 million in assets from investors. The convictions and charges underscore systemic vulnerabilities in projects where founders retain administrative privileges over core mechanisms.

Class-Action Lawsuits from Investors

In February 2022, investors Bill Merewhuader, Christopher Polite, and Tim Viane filed a class-action lawsuit against SafeMoon LLC and affiliated entities in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Case No. 2:22-cv-01108). The suit represented purchasers of SafeMoon tokens (SFM) from March 8, 2021, to February 17, 2022, alleging violations of California's Unfair Competition Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act. Defendants included SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, SafeMoon Connect LLC, and related foreign entities, as well as executives such as Braden John Karony (CEO), Jack Haines-Davies, Ryan Arriaga, and others; celebrity promoters like Jake Paul, Nick Carter, and DeAndre Cortez Way were also named for their roles in endorsing the token. The complaint claimed that defendants engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate SafeMoon's token price and trading volume through misleading statements on social media and promotional materials. Specific allegations included misrepresentations about the token's security features, liquidity pool safeguards, wallet functionality, and executive ownership or control, which allegedly disguised insiders' ability to extract funds via transaction taxes and sales. Plaintiffs asserted that celebrity endorsements created a false impression of legitimacy and safety, enabling a "pump-and-dump" dynamic where promoters sold holdings at peak prices, leading to investor losses as values collapsed. The suit sought injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement of profits, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys' fees. Law firms including Johnson Fistel, LLP, and Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, investigated and notified potential class members of the action, emphasizing claims of false statements regarding SafeMoon's growth prospects, financial benefits to holders, and internal ownership structures. The case proceeded amid SafeMoon's broader legal challenges, including executive indictments, but focused on private investor claims rather than regulatory enforcement. Following SafeMoon US LLC's Chapter 7 filing, Ellen E. Ostrow reached a settlement with the class on September 17, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of . The agreement provides for an estimated $12 million distribution to SFM token holders, payable only after full satisfaction of unsecured creditors' claims, resolving the 2022 allegations without admission of liability. The described the deal as fair, leveraging residual estate funds post-priority distributions to compensate affected . As of late 2025, the settlement awaited court approval, marking a partial remedy for class members amid ongoing FBI victim identification efforts tied to related probes.

Criminal Indictments and Leadership Convictions

On November 1, 2023, a federal was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Braden John Karony, the CEO of SafeMoon LLC; Kyle Nagy, the company's founder; and Thomas Smith, its former chief technology officer, with conspiracy to commit , wire fraud, and conspiracy. Karony was arrested on January 22, 2024, in ; Smith was arrested the same day in ; and Nagy remains a , reportedly in . The charges stemmed from a scheme beginning in March 2021, after SafeMoon issued its SFM tokens, during which the executives allegedly misrepresented the of funds in "locked" liquidity pools while diverting millions of dollars for personal enrichment, including purchases of luxury vehicles and . They traded SFM tokens for profit despite publicly denying personal holdings, contributing to SafeMoon's exceeding $8 billion at its peak while defrauding s of millions. On May 21, 2025, a federal jury in convicted Karony on all three counts following a in which Smith testified as a cooperating after pleading guilty to the charges. Karony faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in for misappropriating over $9 million from SafeMoon's liquidity pool, which prosecutors described as undermining trust in markets and causing significant losses to investors. Smith awaits sentencing, while Nagy has not been apprehended. In 2025, the FBI began seeking information from SafeMoon victims to facilitate potential restitution.

Government Restitution Processes and Investor Remedies

Following the May 2025 conviction of SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony on charges of , wire fraud, and , the U.S. Department of Justice initiated processes to facilitate potential restitution to defrauded investors. Karony's scheme involved siphoning over $200 million from SafeMoon's liquidity pools through unauthorized transfers, prompting federal authorities to prioritize victim identification as a precursor to court-ordered restitution during sentencing. The (FBI), through its New York Field Office, established a dedicated victim reporting mechanism in September 2025 to gather data from investors who purchased SafeMoon V1 tokens and incurred losses. Investors are directed to complete an online questionnaire detailing their financial losses, transaction records, and involvement with SafeMoon LLC, which informs prosecutors' calculations for restitution amounts under federal guidelines. This process aligns with standard DOJ protocols in fraud cases, where forfeited assets from defendants—such as holdings or proceeds from —may be liquidated and distributed to verified victims after sentencing. Remedies remain contingent on sentencing outcomes and asset recovery challenges inherent to decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems, including difficulties in tracing and clawing back dispersed funds across blockchains. As of October 2025, no distributions have occurred, with the FBI emphasizing that victim statements will directly influence the scope of restitution ordered by the . Co-conspirators Kyle Nagy and Thomas Smith, charged alongside Karony in the 2023 indictment, face ongoing proceedings that could yield additional forfeitable assets for the restitution pool. Investors outside the U.S. may encounter jurisdictional hurdles but can still participate via the FBI form to substantiate claims.

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  40. https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/what-is-safemoon-safemoon
  41. https://phemex.com/academy/what-is-safemoon
  42. https://www.bydfi.com/en/questions/how-does-safemoon-s-tokenomics-work
  43. https://23134290.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23134290/The-Evolution-of-SafeMoon-Tokenomics-May-2023.pdf
  44. https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/hacker-exploits-safemoon-burn-bug-steals-8-9-million-from-liquidity-pool
  45. https://www.reddit.com/r/SafeMoon/comments/n3r122/safemoon_tokenomics_and_its_implications_in_depth/
  46. https://watcher.guru/news/guide-to-transfer-safemoon-v1-tokens-to-v2
  47. https://www.reddit.com/r/SafeMoon/comments/1hc3hrj/sfm_migration_from_v1_to_v2_will_reopen_again/
  48. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5528434.0
  49. https://www.coinbase.com/price/safemoon-v2
  50. https://immunebytes.com/blog/safemoon-exploit-mar-28-2023-detailed-analysis/
  51. https://discuss.koinly.io/t/safemoon-v2-is-correct-but-a-lot-of-v1-remains-in-my-transaction-history/11631
  52. https://forum.openzeppelin.com/t/psa-regarding-safemoon-forks-on-pancakeswap-transfers-not-working-read-this/7692
  53. https://support.bitrue.com/hc/en-001/articles/44101001959961-Bitrue-Will-Support-the-SafeMoon-SFM-Token-Migration
  54. https://beincrypto.com/safemoon-surges-after-solana-migration-dao-proposal/
  55. https://letsexchange.io/blog/safemoon-price-prediction-for-2022-2030/
  56. https://www.koinx.com/blog/is-safemoon-dead
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  58. https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/safemoon-dogecoin-new-meme-token-crypto-doge-day-cryptocurrencies-2021-4-1030341944
  59. https://www.coins.ph/en-ph/blog/safemoon-crypto-guide-3-easy-steps-to-buy-best-wallet-tips
  60. https://spacecoastdaily.com/2023/06/safemoons-social-media-influencers-how-they-are-promoting-the-cryptocurrency/
  61. https://www.bitget.com/wiki/what-is-safemoon-worth
  62. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/safemoon-partners-with-simplex-worlds-leading-fiatcrypto-infrastructure-now-offers-integrated-safemoon-wallet-for-growing-army-of-safemoon-crypto-investors-301297276.html
  63. https://autonomymaxi.medium.com/reflection-token-why-safemoon-was-so-successful-92dc3f2dd597
  64. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reflection-mechanism-crypto-deep-dive-anndy-lian
  65. https://www.newsweek.com/safemoon-ama-unveils-simplex-partnership-community-testing-plans-1589987
  66. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/token-partnership-announcement-between-evergrow-150000623.html
  67. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pige-inu-announces-partnership-safemoon-181600421.html
  68. https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/131979/MetFX-Watch2Earn-Announces-Corporate-Partnership-with-SafeMoon
  69. https://x.com/safemoon/status/1935112234931499323
  70. https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/safemoon-swap/
  71. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/safemoon-launch-memecoin-solana-burning-193804322.html
  72. https://github.com/safemoonprotocol/Safemoon.sol
  73. https://www.reddit.com/r/SafeMoon/comments/noxrz4/why_is_safemoon_activity_on_github_almost/
  74. https://www.coinbase.com/price/safemoon
  75. https://www.bitget.com/price/safemoon/historical-data
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