How do I check whether a Solana meme coin is a scam?

Look the token up by its contract address, not its name. Then confirm that mint authority and freeze authority are revoked, that a few wallets do not hold most of the supply, that there is real liquidity in a trading pool, and that the token has no extension that can block or tax selling. No check proves a coin is safe, but these catch the most common traps.

Learn

How to Check Whether a Solana Meme Coin Is a Scam

October 22, 20269 min read

By The Derpy Dave Team

The Short Answer

Look the token up by its contract address (also called the mint address), never by its name or ticker. Then confirm four things: mint authority is revoked, freeze authority is revoked, a handful of wallets do not control most of the supply, and there is real liquidity in a trading pool. Finally, make sure the token has no special setting that can block or tax selling.

No checklist can prove a coin is safe. These steps catch the most common traps, and they take about ten minutes.

Step 1: Get the Contract Address From an Official Source

Anyone can create a token with any name and any picture. Scammers routinely copy the name and logo of a popular coin. The only thing that cannot be copied is the contract address.

Get the address from the project's own website or its verified social profile, not from a reply, a direct message or an ad.

Compare the whole address, not just the first and last few characters. Copycat addresses are made to look similar at a glance.

Paste that address into the tools below instead of searching by name.

Example: the official $DERPYDAVE contract address, published on derpydave.xyz and in our FAQ, is 2wT8AcQFEzXMEjb6qbs1GDg3mJ3DKBw6eBWp7GqsBAGS. Any token called Derpy Dave with a different address is not ours.

Step 2: Check Mint Authority and Freeze Authority

Every Solana token has two powerful settings. You can see both on a block explorer such as Solscan or Solana Explorer by pasting in the contract address.

Mint authority is the power to create new tokens. If it is still active, someone can print more supply at any time, which dilutes every holder.

Freeze authority is the power to freeze a holder's token account. A frozen account cannot send or sell. Some scams let you buy and then freeze you.

What you want to see: both fields show as empty, disabled or revoked. If an address is listed, that wallet still holds the power.

Example: on October 20, 2026 we checked $DERPYDAVE on chain. Mint authority and freeze authority were both revoked, and the original supply of 1,000,000,000 had been minted once on January 25, 2026.

Step 3: Look at Who Holds the Supply

Open the Holders tab on the explorer. You are looking for concentration.

If the top few wallets hold most of the supply, a single sale from one of them can crash the price.

Ignore wallets that are clearly liquidity pools or burn addresses when you add things up; explorers and scanners usually label them.

Watch for many fresh wallets that all bought in the same moment at launch. This is sometimes called a bundled launch, and it can hide how much one person really controls.

Step 4: Check the Liquidity

Liquidity is the pool of tokens and SOL that makes buying and selling possible. A chart site such as DEX Screener or a scanner such as RugCheck shows the pool size.

Very thin liquidity means even small sales move the price a lot, and you may not be able to exit at the price you see.

Check whether the pool's liquidity could be pulled by the creator. Scanners flag pools where liquidity is unlocked or controlled by one wallet.

Our guide on how liquidity and selling work explains this in more detail.

Step 5: Check for Token Extensions That Can Block Selling

Some Solana tokens use the newer Token-2022 program, which supports optional features called extensions. Most are harmless, but a few can trap buyers:

Transfer hook: custom code that runs on every transfer and can reject sales.

Transfer fee: takes a cut of every transfer. If the fee authority is still active, the fee can be raised later.

Permanent delegate: lets one address move or burn tokens out of any holder's account.

Explorers list a token's extensions on its page, and scanners such as RugCheck flag the risky ones. If you see one of these and do not understand why the project needs it, treat that as a warning.

Step 6: Run a Scanner, Then Use Your Own Judgment

Paste the contract address into RugCheck. It summarizes the checks above in one place. Remember that a scan is a snapshot. Settings and holdings can change, so scan again right before you buy.

Then look beyond the code:

Promises of guaranteed returns are a red flag on their own.

Pressure to buy right now, from strangers or in direct messages, is a classic scam tactic.

A real project is easy to verify. It publishes its contract address openly and answers questions.

Quick Checklist

Contract address taken from an official source and compared in full.

Mint authority revoked.

Freeze authority revoked.

No small group of wallets controls most of the supply.

Real liquidity in a pool that the creator cannot simply pull.

No transfer hook, adjustable transfer fee or permanent delegate you cannot explain.

A scanner run right before buying.

Sources

Solana Token Program documentation (mint and freeze authority)

Solana Token-2022 extensions documentation

Phantom: Common token scams

Jupiter token verification and audit data

RugCheck token scanner

This guide is for education only and is not financial advice. Meme coins are highly volatile and you can lose everything you put in. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.

Written by The Derpy Dave Team

The people behind Derpy Dave, a character-driven movement for the overlooked, the sidelined and the counted out.

@Being_DerpyAF