An Unfortunate Trader Lost Over $1 Million Worth of Digital Assets Following the Normie Memecoin Exploit

The memecoin trader spent over $1.16 million to buy 11.23 million Normie (NORMIE) memecoins, but his initial investment fell over 99% to just $150

An unfortunate memecoin trader lost over $1 million in digital assets following the Normie memecoin exploit.

The trader spent over $1.16 million to buy 11.23 million Normie (NORMIE) memecoins, but his initial investment fell over 99% to just $150, according to a May 26 X post by Lookonchain.

Normie is a Base-native memecoin that suffered a smart contract exploit that wiped over $41.7 million from the token’s market capitalization in just three hours. Lookonchain was the first to flag the exploit in a May 26 X post.

Normie’s value fell over 96% following the exploit, as its market cap bottomed out around the $200,000 mark before starting a small recovery, according to CoinGecko data.

Earlier on May 27, the Normie team reportedly agreed to the hacker's offer to return 90% of the stolen NORMIE tokens. This agreement was contingent on Normie using the returned funds, along with $2.3 million from the team's development wallet, to launch a new token to reimburse NORMIE holders.

The hacker has demanded that the token launch must occur before they return the stolen funds, as stated in a blockchain message from the exploiter seen by Lookonchain.

After the hacker's offer, X was reportedly hit with a wave of fake Normie posts that falsely claimed to announce the relaunch of the new token. These posts aimed to lead people to click on fraudulent links.

Over 72,000 Normie holders were impacted by the smart contract exploit, which was first detected in March, according to a May 26 X post by on-chain analytics firm Quick Intel.

Despite the unfortunate incident, memecoin traders remained unfazed as they continued buying animal-themed cryptocurrencies.

Frog-themed memecoin Pepe (PEPEUSD) hit a new all-time high of $0.00001718 on May 27, after rising over 75% during the past week, CoinMarketCap data shows.

Since memecoins lack intrinsic utility, they are among the most volatile digital assets. Despite the inherent risks, some traders are making millions by successfully navigating this high-risk market segment.

Two weeks ago, a savvy Pepe trader turned $3,000 into $46 million by trading the memecoin. The return of the GameStop saga bolstered the Pepe price, and the trader made an over 15,718 times return on initial investment.