Recently launched liquidity protocol Lena Network’s Candy token fell over 87% after the protocol suffered a rug pull of 753 Ether, worth $2.9 million at publication time.

The Candy token fell 87% to $0.38 as of 12:48 a.m. in UTC, from a daily high of $3.08, recorded at 5:45 am UTC, according to Dexscreener data.

Lena Network’s Candy token falls 87% after $2.9 million rug pull image 0 CANDY/USDT, All-time Chart, Source: Dexscreener

The Candy token fell after on-chain data showed that the Lena Network Deployer address had transferred 753.11 ETH, worth around $2.9 million, to an address associated with OKX exchange, on March 6, 2:30 am UTC, according to Etherscan .

The rug pull occurred a few hours before Lena Network announced that it had officially renounced the ownership of the token contract, according to a March 6 X post. The protocol hasn't issued a response to the incident as of press time.

Lena Network’s Candy token falls 87% after $2.9 million rug pull image 1 Lena Network Announcement. Source: LENA Network on X

Related: OrdiZK bridge vanishes in alleged $1.4M rug pull: CertiK

Lena Network raised a total of over 850 ETH ($3.2 million) for its Candy Initial Farm Offering (IFO), which ended on March 3, according to the protocol’s announcement . The Candy token went live earlier today, March 6, only to see a sharp decline.

Rug pulls and hacks are a growing concern in the crypto space. Over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency has been lost to hacks and rug pulls in 2024 year-to-date (YTD) across 32 individual incidents, according to a Feb. 29 research report by blockchain security firm Immunefi.

The over $200 million loss YTD represents a 15.4% increase compared to January and February 2023, when $173 million of digital assets were stolen.

February saw over $67 million worth of crypto stolen across 12 specific hack and fraud incidents. This represents a nearly 50% decrease from January, which recorded $133 million worth of stolen crypto.

A total of $1.8 billion was lost to crypto hacks and scammers in 2023, of which 17% can be attributed to the North Korean Lazarus Group, according to a Dec. 28 report by Immunefi.

Related: Bitcoin price hits $72K in South Korea as ‘Kimchi premium’ returns