Summary
ArbiSwap was a decentralized exchange (DEX) launched on the Arbitrum network in February 2023 that executed a rug pull on March 2, 2023, approximately six days after launch, stealing roughly 84 ETH (over $100,000) from users and moving the proceeds through Tornado Cash. The anonymous developer exploited a hidden 'recoverToken' function in a swapped smart contract to drain liquidity pools while the ARBI governance token collapsed more than 99% in value. The project attracted $4.4 million in total value locked by advertising unsustainable yields above 1,000% APY before abandoning the protocol and going silent.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigationsTimeline(8 events)
2023-02-24
ArbiSwap launches on Arbitrum. The ARBI token is issued and liquidity pools open. The protocol reaches $1 million TVL within 30 minutes.
CryptoSlate2023-02-28
ArbiSwap TVL peaks near $4.4 million on DeFiLlama. The protocol advertises 1,000%+ APY on ETH and BTC pairs to attract liquidity.
CoinDesk2023-03-01
Approximately 13 hours before the rug pull, the developer silently swaps the project's router contract to a new address (0x5e7aBD428e2BE79af3317DbdF2BffC31BF7075cF) containing a hidden 'recoverToken' backdoor function.
BeInCrypto / RugDocIO2023-03-02
The developer executes the rug pull: mints 1 trillion ARBI tokens, swaps them through the ARBI/USDC liquidity pool for USDC, then converts proceeds into approximately 68.47 ETH. The ARBI/WETH pool is accidentally left open; an arbitrage bot extracts roughly $112,000 from it.
CoinFomania / PeckShield2023-03-02
RugDocIO issues an emergency public alert advising users to withdraw funds immediately and revoke all ArbiSwap token approvals. Total stolen estimated at ~84 ETH.
Investing.com / CoinEdition2023-03-02
ARBI token price collapses from approximately $1.50 to under $0.00000001, a decline of more than 99.9%. TVL drops from $4.4 million to approximately $269,000.
U.Today / CoinDesk2023-03-02
CoinDesk, crypto.news, BeInCrypto, and U.Today publish reports on the rug pull. ArbiSwap's website and social media channels go silent with no developer statement.
CoinDesk2023-03-02
On-chain data shows the ArbiSwap operator routes approximately 84 ETH in stolen funds through Tornado Cash to obscure the destination.
CryptoSlateDecision Log
- hash: FGbGnjmd7MaKWfD6CCkaJejvVsHSFy2p84GHMbmnsgRx
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:43 AM
last updated: 5/30/2026, 12:14:44 PM
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