Uniswap fires AzFlin, the developer implicated in FrensTech’s $25k rug pull
Uniswap, the renowned decentralized exchange, has taken action against developer Allen “AzFlin” Lin for his direct role in the FrensTech memecoin rug pull—a scandal that stripped unsuspecting investors of 14 ETH, approximately $25,900.
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Developer’s swift fall from Grace
Allen Lin, once a respected figure within Uniswap, found himself in hot water after orchestrating the controversial rug pull involving the newly launched FrensTech meme coin.
Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, responded to the escalating incident by officially confirming Lin’s termination through a post on X, noting that such behavior was neither supported nor condoned by the company.
The meme coin had initially debuted on the social platform of the Coinbase Layer-2 base program, friend.tech, and in a short span, saw an alarming loss for investors.
Inside the scandal: the steps to a rug pull
The Uniswap community was first alerted to Lin’s actions by an anonymous whistleblower, “UniswapVillain.” They provided a detailed account of how AzFlin deceitfully removed support from the FRENs token—mere hours after its inception—and waited until the project accumulated 14 ETH in fees.
The final steps involved AzFlin removing all liquidity and profiting from the funds acquired by the project. This was all accomplished via the Hop Protocol, a decentralized bridge facilitating token transfers across blockchains. The actions shocked the crypto community, especially considering Lin’s association with Uniswap, a reputed decentralized exchange.
AzFlin’s bold response
Despite the growing controversy and the end of his tenure at Uniswap, AzFlin seemed unperturbed. On Twitter, he labeled the entire episode as “net neutral,” even bragging about his newly acquired “crypto villain” status and an influx of 600 new followers. In his words:
“Got fired from UniSwap but gained new followers and Crypto Twitter villain status.”
AzFlin went on to defend his actions, stating the 14 ETH he siphoned were from “dev taxes” and belonged to him. Despite his defiant stance, the digital trail on the blockchain tells a clear story.
A warning to the crypto community
The FrensTech incident has once again brought to light the concerns about web3 capability to become a sustainable industrial force.
The FrensTech incident is a sobering reminder of the dangers lurking in the crypto world. Traders are urged to be cautious and not blindly follow influencer-driven hypes. Allen Li leveraged the hype created around the new Base chain to create a protocol that became one of the largest in the network and then rugged it for its own profit.
