Pizza DeFi's Epic Crash

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Pizza DeFi

Pizza Finance created a token with almost no initial liquidity. This spread virally, for reasons that are not immediately clear, since there was nothing inherently unique about the token and many other tokens also call themselves PIZZA.

While no assets were lost, all participants who purchased the tokens for a high price and didn't sell in time suffered trading losses. The project's website and social media are still online, and the last tweet mentions that the project is still alive, though that was on September 6th, 2020.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Pizza DeFi

"Crazy returns one slice at a time. Pizza is where bitcoin started as well. 10000 BTC for 2 pizza in 2010. Now 1000 [pizza] every block." "[C]loned DeFi platform called Pizza Finance offered six-figure returns for its liquidity providers." "They are essentially clones of other defi platforms, some of which are clones themselves."

"Some market watchers have claimed it is not wise to search for the next big DeFi superstar, as there’s a risk of getting burned. But because these confident and exuberant crypto investors blinded by greed simply cannot resist the allure of profits, they are betting their Ethereum and suffering losses." "It is quite possible that groups of coordinated traders throw themselves on a token so that a FOMO effect engages in its regard."

"HOTDOG, PIZZA and KIMCHI went on sale and in less than 24 hours they have experienced a Pump & Bump movement where a series of Ethereum farmers inflate the price of the tokens to the maximum ( pump ). Then, they exit their positions, reducing the value of the token to almost zero ( dump ). You could say that the DeFi Food has expired quickly."

"According to Uniswap.info, a spurious token from Pizza Finance pumped to $370 then dumped to zero within two hours on Sept 2." "These tokens were being dumped while others were mid-farming them at decent valuations, but have since plummeted to nearly zero per token."

"$PIZZA is not dead. We are resurrecting back. Had COVID cases in family. We would get $PIZZA everywhere. Dev has not used even a single token. Earlier tokens were burnt. And we are going to burn again. Planning to make rewards 1/10th."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Pizza DeFi's Epic Crash

Date	Event	Description
September 2nd, 2020	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $10,087,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

There were no assets lost in this case. Exchanges should not list tokens which have existed for less than a week and have no liquidity.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.