Biggest scam of 2024: Ape Terminal

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Ape Terminal kept 100% of the SAVM allocation, while at the same time lying to all of CT about 300x performance instead of 30x.

In this article, I will expose how Ape Terminal has secured 100% (worth over $2M) of SatoshiVM allocation for itself instead of choosing real public winners. I will also show how they falsely advertised the success to all of CT.

Part 2 is out, please read here

https://telegra.ph/Ape-Terminal-Scam-Part-2-Hatu-Sheikhs-dark-past-02-04

Important Update:

Ape Terminal tried to explain the peculiarity in Winner Wallets by saying they got taken advantage off by an unknown person and their point system was tricked. I can proof onchain that this is completely false and that all the winner wallets 100% do belong to the team.

First of all, somebody stepped forward to share this irrefutable evidence.

Winner wallet 9 that won the SAVM allocation (0x934c43e25ef4abacc8790cc2eff76ef91122771c) is a signer of this multisig 0x233B9D56eD1525B08Fae00fC3Bac06892a640B81, if you check the other signers of this multisig there is 0xb501dEF0915b2c1359058d97234F95894a8eA647 that is also signer of the multisig that originally received the SAVM to distribute (0xc9cd1be59e5625499db3df8b68a61b5a9071573c).

Second of all, winner number 10 (0x829A908ecf4dC683214D7118B0C3FA3DEc913EaE) has been funded 1054 days ago by a wallet related to Dao Maker. Guess was a co-founder at Dao Maker? Hatu Sheikh, current CEO of Ape Terminal...

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x7f193aab77d048bc9ccbf5cfb53c2a69a3a60f6335452190e00158a9f8336f05 (transaction to fund the winning wallet number 10)

https://etherscan.io/address/0x0c4fd0276474a42ad8d44fc915bdf51031b19ad4#tokentxns (Dao Maker related wallet, likely Hatu's wallet)

The wallet related to Dao Maker has claimed tokens from the Dao Maker public Sale 3 years ago as seen in the transaction below.

https://etherscan.io/address/0x0c4fd0276474a42ad8d44fc915bdf51031b19ad4#tokentxns

This wallet has also won numerous Dao Maker sales and SAFT deals such which can be proven by the transaction record. Feel free to dig into it yourself, you will see that even during Dao Maker times, Hatu could not resist to take allocations for himself.

Transactions related to Dao Maker, likely Hatu himself

Winning allocation for Alice worth over $100k USDT at launch

Lastly, as mentioned by many individuals on X, such as https://x.com/bx1core/status/1750331331790196784?s=20, many winning wallets have been funded in the nearly exact time frame from MEXC whilst others have been long dormant just to participate in the SAVM sale suddenly.

Even worse is the fact that all wallets (besides wallet 1) sold part before transferring to another wallet to sell again. This pattern can be found in nearly every winning wallet. Which normal user would try to send SAVM wallets to another wallet before continuing to sell? Obviously the team itself who tries to obscure the origin of the tokens and make it less detectable that the sale has been completely rigged. Below are some examples:

Winner wallet 4 sending 14k SAVM to another wallet before continuing to sell

Winner wallet 5 sending 13.8k SAVM to another wallet before continuing to sell

Some of the wallets that have been transferred SAVM tokens from the winners to sell started getting spammed with thousands of transactions after Ape Terminal team got exposed. I believe the Ape Terminal team is aware that their tracks are too obvious and are trying to obfuscate their tracks. Luckily they blockchain is completely transparent and no transaction can be deleted. Good luck explaining all the evidence Ape Team :)

Background:

Ape Terminal is a new launchpad that appeared out of nowhere at the end of last year. Good branding, an experienced team behind, and revolutionary tech would describe my initial impression. I was convinced it would become a great project, but had some doubts after the first few launches. Especially confusing was the fact that winners were selected without any transparency: no winners list, little to no winners in the public TG chat, large ticket sizes, and an obscure point system. While my suspicions were building up, I needed glass clear proof to confirm my doubts about Ape Terminal’s conduct of business.

Ape Terminal’s team became completely reckless and decided to leave undeniable evidence that they took 100% of all SAVM allocation for themselves! Not a single person other than the Ape Terminal Team won the Satoshi VM allocation.

Ape Terminal has managed to secure 1% of the total token supply of SatoshiVM ($SAVM). The terms of the public sale were simple, $100k raised with 100 winners of each $1k allocation.

Ape Terminal has no transparency when it comes to winner selection besides a point system which is shown on their UI after participation. It would be simple for the Ape Terminal team to save all the allocations for themselves.

Undeniable on-chain Evidence:

Ape Terminal team receives 1% of the total $SAVM supply, which equates to 210,000 tokens. We can see them receiving the tokens on the tx below:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x49e319eee6d8c1b0b7330261fb11475fde0c3ca39de65c42209fbddd85c1bd6b

Tokens are then further transferred to 0xC9CD1BE59e5625499dB3DF8B68a61B5a9071573c.

https://etherscan.io/token/0x15e6e0d4ebeac120f9a97e71faa6a0235b85ed12?a=0xc9cd1be59e5625499db3df8b68a61b5a9071573c

Important to know that Ape Terminal charges 25% of tokens, so that’s why only 157,500 $SAVM tokens get transferred to 0x68C0Dea301D9fd7ad7b0f9D05A2C0FdeF30e9979 instead of the it it full it 210,000 tokens It.

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xcbc18f15fe6cb916a712605478cddb4db649a49e9bb14745c7e0f651954dd48d

157,500 $SAVM tokens are then airdropped to the supposed winners of the IDO. However, instead of 100 winners, we only see a list of 10 winners who each receive 15750 tokens. This means each wallet got 10 times more tokens than they should have received! https://etherscan.io/tx/0x93bbfe4caf4d2d9f24f162f455f6c35c9aad090e70a3625b3f8f88e8b0957685

How can you boast of having 100 tickets worth $1000 when only 10 winners are winning each $10,000 USDC allocation? I will go over all 10 wallets and show that each one of these are Ape Terminal owned.

Some may speculate that it was 100 winners just with another “Disperse” transaction. However, Ape Terminal’s allocation is stated clearly as 210,000 tokens which we have found the corresponding tx already. If still not convinced, I have the full distribution of circulating supply at the bottom of this document to showcase that no further supply went to Ape Terminal.

How do I know this airdrop is connected to Ape Terminal? Just check the token transfers of this wallet and you can see that $INSP, $AIT and $SAVM tokens have been airdropped using this wallet, all IDOs hosted on Ape Terminal.

https://etherscan.io/address/0x68c0dea301d9fd7ad7b0f9d05a2c0fdef30e9979#tokentxns

Some would now say: “10 winners is fine, could have been a genuine mistake.”
Do you really think this was a mistake? Let’s look at all of the winners’ wallets, shall we?

1. https://etherscan.io/address/0xf75a8fac6b06b59393c68e6f0d55cf511d22d1cc#tokentxns

Winner number 1 has been dormant for nearly 2 years before suddenly using the wallet again and winning both Inspect and SatoshiVM IDO on Ape Terminal. The probability of winning INSP + SVAM with 12,000 USDC holding is less than 0.01%.

2. https://etherscan.io/address/0x76b402c7db0d5889d328a8e7ac0e2817fdbae9d8#tokentxns

Winner number 2 has been inactive for over 1.5 years before suddenly using his wallet again and winning both inspect and SatoshiVM IDO on Ape Terminal.

3. https://etherscan.io/tokentxns?a=0x330a4a85a5bd9f80cb527aec4ea72f6fec2d3ace&p=2

Winner number 3 has been trading for the past year and seems the most normal wallet out of all winners. Nevertheless I can link it to the founder of Ape Terminal

4. https://etherscan.io/address/0xfbe9fcfb9a99eb1c993620645b0ac36ea10bb0bf#tokentxns

5. https://etherscan.io/address/0xd8742d5ba37033e5e49b06a814ebd6ef05bfa297#tokentxns

6. https://etherscan.io/address/0xf02b6febffb3b026e63a45a4d29d3be7f81d87b4#tokentxns

7. https://etherscan.io/address/0x37c27f49b1e984d07080ec3458c2d3c9858a03bb#tokentxns

Winner number 4, 5, 6 and 7 are fresh wallets created 1 month ago. Only activity is depositing 1k USDC and winning the SatoshiVM IDO. All on the same day.

8. https://etherscan.io/address/0xf4282e9e69ac9753fb35fbf7ad8c5f532118143a#tokentxns

Winner number 8 has been inactive for over a year before depositing some USDC and winning the SatoshiVM IDO.

9. https://etherscan.io/address/0x934c43e25ef4abacc8790cc2eff76ef91122771c#tokentxns

Winner number 9 has been inactive for over a year before depositing some USDC and winning the SatoshiVM IDO.

10. https://etherscan.io/tokentxns?a=0x829a908ecf4dc683214d7118b0c3fa3dec913eae

Winner number 10 is a 3-year-old wallet that was inactive for 1052 days and suddenly decided to participate in SatoshiVM IDO and win.

Nearly all of the wallets have the following in common: inactive or dormant before Ape Terminal’s existence, win at least one if not more of Ape Terminal’s IDOs, low amount of funds, and all recent activity related to Ape Terminal.

It is unbelievably shameful of the Ape Terminal team to keep 100% of the $SAVM allocation for themselves. At this point, some may argue that it might all just be a coincidence. I can assure you that it is not. According to Ape Terminal’s website, points and hence the probability to win an allocation depends on the amount of funds on the wallet, social media interaction with Ape Terminal and a few other tasks.

My wallet had around $11k worth of funds on the wallet at the time of participation. My chances were shown as 0.13%. All of the wallets above had less amounts than that at the time of participation. Even if we were to assume that each of the winner wallets had a 0.13% chance, 10 wallets with low amounts of funds to win has a probability of 0.0000000000000002207% which would be the equivalent of winning the lottery jackpot not once, not twice, but three times in a row, all while being struck by lightning each time you claim your prize.

Ape Terminal’s website states that users can “Refer friends, use the Terminal’s sandwich and snipe products, or help push the Ape Terminal or project’s socials.” to increase chances. The effects these actions have on your points are not explained whatsoever. Let’s be honest, it does not matter at all as all winners for SatoshiVM are just team wallets.

Needless to say none of the winner wallets had substantial amounts of funds on there, some of them exactly enough USDC deposited for the contribution for $SAVM IDO. I can say with 100% confidence that every single winning wallet is an insider wallet owned by the team itself.

The team has farmed $2M+ from $SAVM unlocked allocation. Other Ape Terminal IDOs were affected as well.

Falsely advertising 300x instead of 30x

Last week all of CT was promoting IDO season due to the 300x success of Satoshi VM. Another obvious lie. If not bad enough that nobody won the lottery, they also lied about the success of the performance.

Ape Terminal's tweet about SatoshiVM performance

Ape Terminal both provided the false token metrics. The medium article of bounce on SatoshiVM shows:

https://bouncefinance.medium.com/satoshivm-launches-savm-on-bounce-launchpad-38091f845

1% for APE Terminal and 2% for Bounce Launchpad. Ape Terminal was supposed to distribute 100,000 USD worth of SAVM tokens and 2% for 20,000 USD on Bounce.

Ape Terminal: 100k for 1% of Tokens is an FDV of 10 Million = 30x

Bounce: 20k for 2% of Tokens is an FDV of 1 Million = 300x

Ape terminal used the metrics of the Bounce IDO allocation and used them to promote themselves!

Further investigation into Ape Terminal:

After seeing how careless the Ape Terminal team is about their lies I decided to do more digging. My conclusion was that the few profitable IDOs on their platform were kept by the team.

Basically: They will let you lose money on their launchpad but not make money. And when you lose they will still charge you a 25% fee!

SatoshiVm:

100% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 27x, ROI after fee 20.5x

Adjusted to unlock = 2050% Profit, Team kept 100% allocation

2. Inspect:

10% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 18x, ROI after fee

Adjusted to unlock = 35% profit. Team kept some

3. AIT Protocol

10% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 17x, ROI after fee = 12.75x

Adjusted to unlock = 27% profit. Team kept some

4. MoonApp

10% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 4.8x, ROI after fee = 3.6x

Adjusted to unlock = -64% Loss

5. BRCApp

10% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 2.8x, ROI after fee = 2.1x

Adjusted to unlock = -79% Loss

6. Artyfact

10% unlock + 25% fee

Avg ROI 7.5x, ROI after fee, 5.6x

Adjusted to unlock = -46%

Conclusion:

It appears obvious that Ape Terminal’s intention was never to become a launchpad accessible by retail users but to make the team itself rich. The entire project has been executed very well and it’s no beginner behind it. All of you must be wondering who is behind all of this and how was this person able to fool all of CT? I wanted to find out who cheats people out of millions and does so obviously. I decided to do some digging.

A friend of mine received a pitch about Ape terminal weeks ago mentioning Hatu Sheik's name. Apparently, a co-founder of Dao Maker left the company to launch Ape Terminal. This was confirmed by simply looking at the few accounts Ape Terminal follows on Twitter.

Ape Terminal following list on X includes Hatu

Ape Terminal's project introduction for KOLs

There is not much online about Hatu other than being the former CMO of DAO Maker and advisor to many dead projects. Based on his business conduct at Ape Terminal I am sure it’s not his first time scamming and lying to people.

If you have any further information about Ape Terminal or Hatu Sheikh, please reach out to me via E-mail.