IBX Exchange’s ARTIC Token Reportedly Rug Pulls After Raising $24M from Investors

IBX, a decentralized exchange (DEX) backed by Orderly Network, has reportedly orchestrated a rug pull involving its newly launched token, ARTIC. 

This incident follows a token presale that raised over $24 million from unsuspecting investors. According to industry commentators, the situation has raised concerns about the integrity of the platform and the security of investor funds.

The ARTIC Presale

IBX launched its v.1 platform in April. DeFi analyst Anon Vee stressed that just three days ago, the platform initiated a presale for its ARTIC token, setting a target of $3.2 million. However, due to high demand, the presale ended up raising more than 160,000 Solana ($24 million).

Did a new rug just happen?@IBXtrade is incubated by @OrderlyNetwork

IBX launched a presale 3 days back with the aim to raise $3.2m and refund non-selected participants

The presale ended up raising over 160k SOL ($24m)

Participants expected $21.8m to be refunded but guess… pic.twitter.com/3rc6E5GQ6N

— Anon Vee (@AnonVee_) October 18, 2024

Investors were initially led to believe that the funds exceeding the original cap would be refunded. Specifically, around $21.8 million was expected to be returned to participants who weren’t allocated tokens. 

But in a questionable move, the IBX team created a poll on its website—completely under their control—asking whether to raise the cap or maintain the original limit. As expected, the result favored increasing the cap, and the team claimed they would refund 65,000 SOL (about $9.7 million).

Despite their claims of processing refunds, no participants have come forward to confirm receiving their money back. According to sources, the team likely sent funds to multiple addresses they themselves created, raising suspicions of foul play. 

The situation worsened when IBX officially created the ARTIC token at a market capitalization of $50 million at 6:16 UTC. 

An Alleged Rug Pull

However, the platform delayed activating the claim page for presale participants, preventing them from redeeming their tokens. By the time the claim page went live at 7:02 UTC, the token had already dumped, crashing its market cap from $50 million to a mere $6 million.

This left investors trapped, unable to sell their ARTIC tokens before their value plummeted. Only a small number of participants were able to claim their tokens in time, leaving many investors disappointed.

Multiple prominent exchanges like MEXC and LBank listed ARTIC, but the damage was already done, with the value of the token severely devalued. Some analysts speculate that this listing was part of a broader strategy by IBX to offload the tokens quickly, but this remains unconfirmed.

While Anon Vee has called out IBX and Orderly Network for the alleged scam, the platform has yet to provide answers to the community at press time. With millions of dollars now seemingly lost, investors are demanding accountability and an investigation into the exchange’s actions.