Data covers PancakeSwap (BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum), Uniswap (Ethereum, Base and Polygon), and SushiSwap (Ethereum, Base and Polygon), all pool versions. Week 38 = week ending Sunday, September 20, 2026.
Week 38 saw $70,688,513 extracted from retail investors – up 93.0% from Week 37’s $36,627,957 and the highest weekly total of 2026. It is the largest week since Week 50 of 2025 ($72.6M). The rebound came from fewer, larger events: rug pulls fell 22.7% to 12,406, so the average extraction per event rose to $5,698, also the highest of the year. The running total since 2026 tracking began passed $1 billion this week and now stands at $1,046,932,052.
Week 38 Key Numbers
Week 38 Analysis
Fraud Value Nearly Doubles to the Highest Week of 2026
Extraction rose 93.0% week over week to $70.7M after Week 37’s low of $36.6M, and finished 46.7% above the average of the previous four weeks (Weeks 34-37 averaged $48.2M). No week since Week 50 of 2025 ($72.6M) has been larger. Within 2026, Week 38 now sits above the previous peak of Week 36’s $62.0M. The running total crossed $1 billion for the first time this week, as Week 38’s $70.7M lifted the cumulative figure from $976.2M to $1.047B.
Fewer, Larger Events Drive the Rebound
Rug pull events fell 22.7% to 12,406 while fraud value rose 93.0%, so the average extraction per event jumped 149.6% to $5,698 from $2,283 in Week 37 – the highest weekly average of 2026, ahead of Week 36’s $5,008. Creators also deployed more capital: liquidity added rose 86.0% to $129.6M and liquidity removed rose 88.4% to $200.3M, both the highest weekly totals of 2026. Week 37’s pattern of many small events has reversed into a week of larger ones.
Pools and Mints Retreat From Week 37
Total pools tracked fell 19.5% to 94,378 and new pool mints fell 27.5% to 16,402, back to roughly the 16,000 level seen in Weeks 35 and 36 after Week 37’s 22,622. Total pools remain far above the 26,377 recorded in Week 34, so the elevated pool counts first noted in earlier reports have not unwound.
Removed-to-Added Ratio Rises for a Fifth Straight Week
Creators removed $1.55 for every $1.00 they seeded (1.545x), up from 1.526x in Week 37 and the fifth consecutive weekly rise since Week 33’s 1.389x. It is the highest ratio since Week 20. The rug-to-mint ratio rose to 75.6% from 70.9%, the second-highest reading of 2026 behind Week 35’s 76.8%.
Week-on-Week Comparison: W36 – W38
| Metric | W36 | W37 | W38 | W38 vs W37 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud extracted | $61,978,074 | $36,627,957 | $70,688,513 | +93.0% |
| Rug events | 12,375 | 16,042 | 12,406 | -22.7% |
| Total pools | 105,712 | 117,309 | 94,378 | -19.5% |
| New mints | 16,771 | 22,622 | 16,402 | -27.5% |
| Added by creators | $120,659,905 | $69,683,368 | $129,634,666 | +86.0% |
| Removed by creators | $182,637,979 | $106,311,325 | $200,323,179 | +88.4% |
| Removed-to-added ratio | 1.514x | 1.526x | 1.545x | +1.3% |
| Average extraction per event | $5,008 | $2,283 | $5,698 | +149.6% |
2026 Running Total – W32 to W38
| Week | Fraud Extracted | Rug Events | Running Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| W32 | $35,175,488 | 7,967 | $745,921,874 |
| W33 | $37,633,792 | 8,965 | $783,555,666 |
| W34 | $42,429,877 | 11,778 | $825,985,543 |
| W35 | $51,651,965 | 12,225 | $877,637,508 |
| W36 | $61,978,074 | 12,375 | $939,615,582 |
| W37 | $36,627,957 | 16,042 | $976,243,539 |
| W38 | $70,688,513 | 12,406 | $1,046,932,052 |
Note on expanded coverage and restated figures: earlier weekly reports covered PancakeSwap on BNB Smart Chain and Uniswap on Ethereum. The tracker now also covers PancakeSwap on Ethereum, Uniswap on Base and Polygon, and SushiSwap on Ethereum, Base and Polygon (all pool versions), and the added coverage has been imported back across earlier weeks. Every weekly figure in this article therefore reflects the expanded scope and is higher than originally reported for the same week. Running totals are recalculated by summing every weekly value since 2026-W01 on this basis, so they are higher than in previous weekly reports (for example, $949,401,987 through Week 37 in our Week 37 report versus $976,243,539 here). Week 37 shows 16,042 events and $36,627,957 above, compared with 13,718 events and $36,172,288 originally reported. All figures use the corrected USD-only extraction methodology adopted 2026-08-05.
About This Tracker
ChainAware.ai’s weekly rug pull tracker monitors liquidity removal fraud across PancakeSwap on BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum, and Uniswap and SushiSwap on Ethereum, Base and Polygon, covering all pool versions. Rug pull fraud is defined as the USD-equivalent value of liquidity removed by the pool creator that exceeds the USD-equivalent value of liquidity added by the creator – a net extraction event, measured in USD-side value only. The tracker uses ChainAware’s predictive rug pull detection engine, which achieves 90.1% detection accuracy in V3 – see the full Rug Pull Detector methodology for how the model scores deployer wallets and liquidity events.