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SafeMoon

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[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION][src:defillama]

Summary

SafeMoon was a BNB Chain-based DeFi token launched in March 2021 that rapidly attracted retail investors through celebrity endorsements and social media hype, reaching a peak market capitalization of approximately $17 billion. Federal prosecutors and the SEC charged the project's founders and executives in November 2023 with securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, alleging they secretly misappropriated over $200 million from the liquidity pool for personal enrichment. CEO Braden John Karony was convicted on all counts in May 2025 and sentenced to 100 months in prison in February 2026; CTO Thomas Smith pleaded guilty in February 2025; founder Kyle Nagy remained a fugitive as of early 2026.

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Background and Launch

SafeMoon launched on March 8, 2021, on the Binance Smart Chain (BNB Chain) with an initial supply of 777 trillion tokens. The project was incorporated as SafeMoon LLC and later SafeMoon US LLC, headquartered in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The token employed a transaction tax mechanism — initially publicized as a 10% fee on each trade — split between redistribution to existing holders (described as 'reflections') and a liquidity pool on PancakeSwap. The project marketed this tokenomics model as a mechanism to reward long-term holders and discourage selling. Kyle Nagy is identified in court filings as the token's founder, while Braden John Karony later assumed the role of CEO and Thomas Smith served as Chief Technology Officer.

Sources

Initial Hype and Celebrity Promotion

Between March 14 and April 21, 2021, SafeMoon increased in value by approximately 23,225%, reaching an all-time high market capitalization of approximately $17 billion. This surge was substantially fueled by celebrity endorsements. Promoters included YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul, musician Nick Carter, rapper Soulja Boy, rapper Lil Yachty, YouTuber Logan Paul, DJ Afrojack, and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. Portnoy publicly acknowledged uncertainty about the project's legitimacy, stating in May 2021: 'Why? I don't know... why, it could be a Ponzi scheme.' The SEC's subsequent complaint alleged that executives actively solicited celebrity promoters to inflate token prices while concealing their own trading activity. In February 2022, a class-action lawsuit was filed in California's Central District Court against SafeMoon LLC, Braden John Karony, Jake Paul, Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, and YouTuber Ben Phillips, alleging a pump-and-dump scheme targeting investors who purchased SafeMoon tokens between March 8, 2021 and February 17, 2022.

Sources

DOJ Indictment and SEC Charges

On November 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint charging SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, founder Kyle Nagy, CEO Braden John Karony, and CTO Thomas Smith with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. The SEC's complaint alleged that the defendants promised investors that SafeMoon's liquidity pool was 'locked' and inaccessible, while in reality large portions of the pool were never locked and the defendants secretly withdrew and misappropriated cryptocurrency assets worth more than $200 million. The complaint further alleged that Karony and Smith used misappropriated assets to purchase SafeMoon tokens and prop up the token price, and that Karony engaged in wash trading — buying and selling SafeMoon on his own accounts to create artificial impressions of market activity. SafeMoon's price had surged more than 55,000% between March 12 and April 20, 2021, reaching a market capitalization exceeding $5.7 billion according to the SEC's complaint, before eventually plummeting. Karony was arrested in Provo, Utah, and Smith was arrested in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Kyle Nagy remained at large.

Sources

Misappropriation of Investor Funds

According to the SEC's complaint and subsequent criminal proceedings, SafeMoon's founders and executives secretly accessed liquidity pool funds that they had publicly represented as locked and inaccessible. The defendants allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal expenditures including McLaren automobiles, extravagant travel, and luxury real estate. Karony alone was alleged to have acquired over $9 million in cryptocurrency from the scheme. Prosecutors documented his personal purchases including a $2.2 million home in Utah, additional residential properties in Utah and Kansas, an Audi R8 sports car valued at $277,000, a second Audi R8, a Tesla, and custom Ford F-550 and Jeep Gladiator pickup trucks. The SEC's civil complaint cited total misappropriated assets exceeding $200 million. The defendants allegedly also engaged in market manipulation: Karony and Smith allegedly used misappropriated tokens to purchase SafeMoon and support its price, while Karony conducted wash trading through a personal account on a third-party exchange to simulate market activity.

Sources

Smart Contract Exploit (March 2023)

On March 28, 2023, an attacker exploited a vulnerability in a recently deployed SafeMoon smart contract update, draining approximately $8.9 million from the SafeMoon:WBNB liquidity pool on PancakeSwap. The vulnerability involved a newly introduced token-burn function that was mistakenly set to public without access restrictions, allowing any external address to call it. The attacker used this function to artificially burn large quantities of SafeMoon tokens held in the liquidity pool, causing the token price to spike, then sold SafeMoon at the inflated price to drain WBNB from the pool. In subsequent on-chain communications, the attacker claimed to have front-run a separate malicious actor and offered to return 80% of the stolen funds, retaining 20% as an implied bug bounty. Blockchain security firm Halborn and researcher Zellic both published post-mortems confirming the access control flaw. Despite CEO Karony's public statement that 'SFM tokens remain safe,' the exploit caused significant additional damage to investor confidence already strained by the pending regulatory environment.

Sources

Bankruptcy

On approximately December 15, 2023, SafeMoon US LLC filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 7 proceedings involve the liquidation of a debtor's assets to repay creditors rather than a reorganization. SafeMoon reported between 50 and 99 creditors, assets between $10 million and $50 million, and liabilities between $100,000 and $500,000. The bankruptcy filing occurred roughly six weeks after the November 2023 DOJ and SEC charges. The token price fell approximately 42% immediately following the bankruptcy announcement. As part of the liquidation process, SafeMoon was subsequently acquired by the VGX Foundation.

Sources

Criminal Convictions and Sentencing

Thomas Smith, SafeMoon's former CTO, pleaded guilty on February 20, 2025, before Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Smith admitted to misleading investors by falsely asserting that SafeMoon's liquidity pool was locked and inaccessible. Smith subsequently testified against Karony at trial. Braden John Karony was convicted on all three counts — conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering — by a federal jury following a three-week trial in May 2025. On February 10, 2026, Judge Eric Komitee sentenced Karony to 100 months (approximately 8 years and 4 months) in federal prison and ordered him to forfeit approximately $7.5 million plus two residential properties. Restitution was to be determined separately. Kyle Nagy, identified as SafeMoon's creator, remained at large internationally as of early 2026 and had not been apprehended.

Sources

Investor Impact and Victim Compensation

SafeMoon's collapse wiped out billions of dollars in retail investor value. The FBI subsequently issued a public call for investors who suffered losses in SafeMoon to submit victim impact information to assist in the restitution determination process as part of Karony's sentencing. Law firm Boccadutri and others have maintained investor compensation claim portals. A class-action lawsuit filed in the Central District of California in February 2022 named multiple celebrity promoters and SafeMoon executives; the outcome of this civil action was not fully resolved as of the time of investigation. Restitution to victims was ordered as part of Karony's sentence but the specific amount had not been finalized as of February 2026.

Sources

Timeline

2021-03-08

SafeMoon token launches on Binance Smart Chain with a supply of 777 trillion tokens.

SafeMoon - Wikipedia

2021-03-14

SafeMoon begins a rapid appreciation phase, ultimately rising approximately 23,225% between mid-March and late April 2021, fueled by celebrity endorsements from Jake Paul, Nick Carter, Lil Yachty, Logan Paul, and others.

SafeMoon - Wikipedia

2021-04-20

SafeMoon reaches peak market capitalization of approximately $17 billion.

SafeMoon - Wikipedia

2022-02-17

Class-action lawsuit filed in California's Central District Court against SafeMoon LLC, Braden John Karony, Jake Paul, Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, and Ben Phillips, alleging a pump-and-dump scheme.

Jake Paul, Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty Facing 'Pump and Dump' Class Action - classaction.org

2023-03-28

Smart contract exploit drains approximately $8.9 million from SafeMoon's WBNB liquidity pool via a publicly accessible burn function introduced in a recent contract update.

SafeMoon 'burn' bug abused to drain $8.9 million from liquidity pool - BleepingComputer

2023-11-01

DOJ unseals federal indictment and SEC files civil charges against SafeMoon LLC, Kyle Nagy, Braden John Karony, and Thomas Smith for securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Karony and Smith are arrested; Nagy remains at large.

SEC Charges Crypto Company SafeMoon and its Executive Team for Fraud - SEC.gov

2023-12-15

SafeMoon US LLC files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, with SFM token dropping approximately 42% on the announcement.

Crypto Firm SafeMoon Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, SFM Plunges 42% - CoinDesk

2025-02-20

Former CTO Thomas Smith pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud before Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak, admitting to falsely representing the liquidity pool as locked.

SafeMoon CTO changes plea to guilty in $200M crypto fraud case - CoinTelegraph

2025-05-21

Braden John Karony convicted by federal jury on all three counts: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, following a three-week trial in Brooklyn federal court.

SafeMoon CEO Convicted of Securities Fraud After Former CTO Testifies Against Him - CCN

2026-02-10

Judge Eric Komitee sentences Karony to 100 months in prison and orders forfeiture of approximately $7.5 million plus two residential properties.

CEO of digital asset company SafeMoon sentenced to 100 months in prison - IRS Criminal Investigation

Research Gaps

5 open · agent-resolvable

Heuristic next-actions surfaced for researchers and worker agents. Resolving these strengthens the page's evidence base and trust score.

  • [high]
    no addresses

    No on-chain addresses cited. Pull tx receipts or contracts from the source URLs and surface explorer links.

  • [med]
    no regulatory

    No regulatory or sanctions cross-check. Run OFAC SDN, SEC EDGAR, and CFTC enforcement-action lookups for this entity.

  • [med]
    single source

    Only one source has reported on this entity. Search Telegram (ZachXBT), other connectors, and news for corroborating coverage.

  • [med]
    unarchived sources

    Cited sources are not Wayback-archived. Run the archiver to pin their content before they rot.

  • [low]
    weak evidence

    Page has thin evidence. Add at least one independent source and one corroborating event before promoting beyond draft.

Provenance
src:defillama

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive. Full audit log →

model: claude-code-investigator

generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:43 AM

last updated: 5/8/2026, 2:42:01 AM

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