Most rug pulls are not surprises — they are baked into a token’s structure before launch. This scorer turns six well-known red flags into a single weighted risk band so you can triage a DeFi project quickly before reading the contract line by line.
How it works
Each question maps to a structural indicator that makes a rug pull easier or harder, and each answer adds risk points. The most predictive flags carry the most weight:
- Hidden mint / blacklist / honeypot functions and owner upgrade powers score highest, because they let the team seize or freeze funds outright.
- Unlocked liquidity lets the team withdraw the pool at any moment.
- Concentrated supply in the top ten holders enables a coordinated dump.
- Missing audits and opaque teams raise uncertainty.
The points are summed and divided by the maximum to place the project in a low, medium, high, or critical band.
The six indicators explained
1. Token supply concentration
Check the top-holder list on a block explorer (Etherscan, BscScan, etc.). If the top 10 wallets hold more than 50-60% of supply outside of clearly labeled protocol contracts (staking pools, team vesting contracts with visible lock), a coordinated dump becomes easy. Exclude the liquidity pool address when counting — LP tokens held by the pool itself are not a concentration risk.
2. Team wallet lock / vesting
Legitimate projects typically lock team tokens in a vesting contract with a cliff period and schedule. If team allocations are immediately transferable, the team can sell at any time after launch. Verify the lock on a locker service or look for the vesting contract in the audit report.
3. Audits
A public audit from a reputable security firm significantly raises the bar for hidden malicious functions. Note that an audit is not a guarantee — it only means a professional reviewed the code at a point in time. An unaudited contract is the higher-risk case; an audited contract with the audit report actually published (not just claimed) is better.
4. Contract upgradeability / owner controls
Proxy contracts and owner functions that can change core logic or pause transfers allow the team to modify the token after you buy it. Renounced ownership (the owner key sent to the zero address) or verified multisig ownership with a public timelock is far safer.
5. Liquidity pool lock duration
If the liquidity pool (LP) tokens are not burned or locked for a meaningful period, the team can remove all liquidity — selling every holder’s tokens for nothing — in a single transaction. Look for LP burn (tokens sent to the zero address) or a verifiable lock on a locker service with the lock end date visible.
6. Team transparency (doxxed vs. anonymous)
Anonymous teams are not automatically malicious — pseudonymous founders built some of crypto’s most durable projects. But an anonymous team has no reputational or legal consequence for a rug pull, while a doxxed team with known identities faces real-world accountability. Weight this alongside the other factors.
Risk band interpretation
| Band | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Low | Structural rug-pull levers look healthy — continue deeper diligence |
| Medium | Some yellow flags; ask for clarification before investing significantly |
| High | Multiple major red flags; treat with strong scepticism |
| Critical | Textbook rug-pull setup — most of the technical prerequisites are in place |
How to look up each indicator
- Token concentration: Block explorer → contract address → Holders tab
- LP lock: Check a liquidity locker service or search for LP token transfers to the burn address
- Audit: Project’s documentation or GitHub; verify the firm published the report on their own site
- Owner functions: Block explorer → contract → Read Contract → look for
owner(), then check Write Contract for upgrade or mint functions - Vesting: Look for a vesting contract linked from the audit or project documentation
A low score means the obvious structural rug-pull levers look healthy — it does not mean the project is a good investment. Exploits, token price risk, and slow “slow rug” drains (team gradually selling over months) are outside this tool’s scope. This is not financial advice.