Normie Memecoin Faces Crisis: Team Weighs Hacker Demands Following 99% Token Drop
The team behind the Base memecoin Normie (NORMIE) is currently negotiating with a hacker to recover stolen funds after a devastating smart contract exploit caused the token’s price to plummet by 99% in less than three hours. This exploit temporarily reduced the market cap of NORMIE from nearly $42 million to just $200,000.
What is Normie (NORMIE)
Normie (NORMIE) is a meme-inspired cryptocurrency that operates on the Base blockchain. It was launched in March 2024 during a period of heightened interest in meme coins. The project aims to onboard a large number of new users to the Base ecosystem, leveraging the viral nature of meme culture to drive adoption.
Normie emphasizes strong community support and engagement. The project is designed to encourage active participation from its users to foster growth and spread its message.
The Exploit and Immediate Impact
On May 26, 2024, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain was among the first to detect the exploit and the hacker’s subsequent offer, communicated via an on-chain message to Normie’s deployer address. The hacker proposed returning 90% of the stolen funds under specific conditions. Despite the acceptance of this offer by the Normie team, the token’s price had already fallen by 96% since the exploit.
Hacker’s Demands
The hacker’s conditions for returning the funds are stringent. They demand that the Normie team use the stolen funds, along with $2.3 million from the team’s development wallet, to launch a new token. The hacker emphasized that the re-launch of the token must occur before the funds are returned, citing concerns over the appropriate use of the funds. The hacker stated, “The dev wallet made significantly more than I did during this exploit, and I have no other way to ensure that those funds are used appropriately.”
Response from Normie Team
“Dinho,” an administrator of the official NORMIE Telegram group, has been unable to confirm when token holders might recover their stolen funds. Additionally, Dinho’s X (formerly Twitter) account has been suspended, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the situation.
Broader Impact
The smart contract vulnerability that led to this exploit was discovered back in March 2024. According to the team behind the blockchain scam detector tool Quick Intel, approximately 72,000 NORMIE holders were affected by this vulnerability. Normie was launched amid a surge in memecoin popularity on the Base blockchain in March 2024, reaching a peak market cap of $130 million on April 2, 2024, according to CoinGecko.
Future Prospects
The Normie team is now faced with the challenge of navigating the hacker’s demands while attempting to restore confidence among its community and investors. The outcome of these negotiations will likely have significant implications for the future of the NORMIE token and its holders.
Angel Marinov is the Managing Editor at Coinlabz. With extensive knowledge of crypto payments and blockchain use cases, Angel is a trusted source of accurate and timely information
