Pump & dump explained: the TAC and EVAA case

Recently, two TON-based tokens have shown price action that looks a lot like a classic pump & dump: a sharp run-up followed by an equally fast collapse. Stories like this happen in crypto all the time — so let’s use a fresh example from our own ecosystem to break down how the scheme works.

A pump & dump is when a token’s price is first “pumped” through buying pressure and hype, after which large holders sell their holdings at a higher price. Those who enter late often buy near the top and end up deep in the red once the selling begins.

The main warning sign is pretty simple: a token starts surging without any clear news behind it. This is especially common with low-liquidity coins — in that kind of market, it is easy to push the price up, but just as easy to send it back down. Futures contracts only amplify the effect: a drop can trigger long liquidations, and forced selling creates even more pressure on the price.

This appears to be what happened with EVAA and TAC. For example, the TAC team says the token’s collapse started with a large futures sell-off in low-liquidity conditions. In EVAA’s case, users on X found that shortly before the drop, several new wallets had simultaneously accumulated around 6.7 million tokens — almost 38% of the circulating supply.

The result is clearly visible on the chart: TAC is down 94% from its peak, while EVAA is down 77%. We do not know how much those who exited before everyone else managed to make, but it is clear that some regular users lost money here. So the basic rule remains the same: do not buy a token just because it has already pumped, and do not become exit liquidity for someone else’s pump & dump.

@thedailyton