Week 23 delivered $68,937,024 in rug pull extraction across PancakeSwap V2, PancakeSwap V3, Uniswap V2, and Uniswap V3 – more than double Week 22’s $32,459,995. This is the acceleration window we flagged last week: based on the W3-W8 and W13-W20 cycle patterns, we projected the next spike would open somewhere in W24-W26. It arrived early, in W23. The plateau is over. The running 23-week total now stands at $703,764,431 – crossing the $700M milestone.
Rug pull events also surged – 10,955 in a single week, up 67.1% from W22’s 6,557. This is not a gradual climb. It is a step change, consistent with the same compression-then-spike dynamic that produced the W20 event.
This Week’s Numbers – Week 23, 2026 · PancakeSwap V2/V3 + Uniswap V2/V3
The Cycle Called Its Shot
Two weeks ago, analyzing the W22 plateau, the projection was explicit: “Based on the W3-W8 and W13-W20 cycle patterns, the next acceleration window opens somewhere in W24-W26.” W23 arrived one week ahead of that window – close enough to confirm the underlying pattern, early enough to show that compression periods can break faster than the historical average once a new wave of operators is ready to deploy.
| Week | Pools | Rug Events | Added | Removed | Fraud Value | WoW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-W19 | 10,147 | 3,199 | $27.7M | $41.3M | $13,676,254 | – |
| 2026-W20 | 11,066 | 5,518 | $51.6M | $90.1M | $38,425,423 | +181.0% |
| 2026-W21 | 11,371 | 6,870 | $69.8M | $102.3M | $32,422,973 | -15.6% |
| 2026-W22 | 11,300 | 6,557 | $68.3M | $100.7M | $32,459,995 | +0.1% |
| 2026-W23 | 11,693 | 10,955 ↑ | $154.4M | $223.3M | $68,937,024 | +112.4% |
What’s Different This Time: Volume AND Value Both Surged
The W20 spike was driven primarily by value concentration – fewer high-value extractions. The W21 surge was driven primarily by event volume – more operators, lower value per rug. W23 is the first spike in the dataset where both metrics moved together at scale: rug events up 67.1% AND fraud value up 112.4% in the same week. This dual surge produced the highest single-week fraud value in the entire 23-week dataset, surpassing the previous peak (W04 at $53.4M) by 29%.
The removed-to-added liquidity ratio also climbed to 1.45x, up from 1.48x in W22 – essentially unchanged on a ratio basis, but applied against nearly double the pool volume. This is the clearest signal yet that the operators who compressed activity during the W21-W22 plateau redeployed at scale in W23, rather than exiting the market.
23-Week Running Total: $703.8M
Week 23 pushes the cumulative total past the $700M milestone – $703,764,431 extracted from retail investors across PancakeSwap V2, PancakeSwap V3, Uniswap V2, and Uniswap V3 in 23 weeks of 2026.
| Metric | W1-W23 Total |
|---|---|
| Total rug pull events | 126,620 |
| Net retail losses | $703,764,431 |
| Average weekly extraction | ~$30.6M |
| 5-week trailing avg (W19-W23) | ~$37.2M |
| Peak week | W23 – $68,937,024 (new peak) |
| Highest rug event week | W23 – 10,955 events (new peak) |
W23 now holds two records simultaneously: the highest single-week fraud value and the highest single-week rug pull event count of the entire 23-week dataset. The 5-week trailing average has jumped from $26.4M (reported last week) to $37.2M – a clear signal that the extraction baseline is shifting upward, not just experiencing a temporary spike. For the full methodology and the original 20-week dataset that trained Rug Pull Detector V3, see our $569M PancakeSwap V2 analysis.
How to Protect Yourself
With 10,955 rug pull events in a single week – the highest count in the dataset – the probability of any random new pool being fraudulent is now higher than at any prior point in 2026. Approximately 94% of new pools with liquidity activity in W23 ended in a confirmed rug pull event. ChainAware’s free tools screen any pool or token in under two minutes:
- Rug Pull Detector V3 – behavioral analysis of the contract creator + smart contract code inspection. 90.1% prediction accuracy. Free, no signup.
- Fraud Detector – full behavioral history of any deployer wallet. 98% fraud prediction accuracy.
- Wallet Auditor – for P2P transactions. Complete behavioral profile of any receiving wallet before sending funds.
About This Tracker
The ChainAware Weekly Rug Pull Tracker measures the most basic, mathematically verifiable form of rug pull across PancakeSwap V2, PancakeSwap V3, Uniswap V2, and Uniswap V3: a contract creator adds liquidity (Mint event), retail investors buy in, and the creator removes more than they added (Burn event). The difference is confirmed retail loss. This definition is conservative – it excludes LP token transfer rug pulls, unlocked token sell-offs, honeypot contracts, and associated wallet extraction. Numbers reported here represent the confirmed floor. For complete methodology, see chainaware.ai/resources/rugpull-verification ↗.