Overview
Rabbit Finance launched on BNB Chain in mid-2021 during the BSC DeFi boom, offering leveraged yield farming — users could borrow additional capital to amplify their farming positions by 2-6x, earning higher yields in exchange for liquidation risk. The concept was legitimate (Alpaca Finance successfully implemented the same model), but Rabbit Finance was not.
The protocol attracted significant deposits through aggressive marketing and high advertised APYs. The team was anonymous, the contracts were unaudited, and the project launched with all the hallmarks of what the crypto community now recognizes as rugpull prerequisites: anonymous team, forked code with minimal modifications, promises of extraordinarily high returns, and retained admin keys that could drain funds.
In late 2021, the team executed the exit scam. Funds were drained from the protocol's contracts through admin functions, transferred to various wallets, and laundered through mixers and cross-chain bridges. The team's social media accounts went silent. The website eventually went dark. Estimated total losses range from $10-15M.
This was not an exploit or a market failure — it was theft. The anonymous team built a functional-looking leveraged farming protocol with a backdoor, attracted deposits, and stole the money.
Smart Contracts
Rabbit Finance's contracts were forked from Alpaca Finance with modifications — critically, modifications that preserved admin control over deposited funds. The contracts included functions that allowed the deployer to withdraw user deposits without restriction. Whether these were deliberately malicious backdoors or "legitimate" admin functions that were then abused is academic — the result was the same. The contracts were not meaningfully audited by any reputable firm. Code review would have revealed the admin withdrawal capabilities, but most depositors did not review the contracts. The smart contract architecture was designed for theft.
Security
Security was non-existent by design. The protocol was built to be drained. There were no audits, no bug bounty, no multisig controls, and no timelock on admin functions. The deployer wallet had complete control over all deposited funds. This is not a security failure — it is a security absence. The protocol was a theft tool disguised as a yield farming product. Every security red flag was present and visible to anyone who bothered to check: anonymous team, unaudited contracts, admin keys with unlimited power, and no transparent governance.
Yield Generation
Before the rugpull, Rabbit Finance displayed high APYs from leveraged farming of PancakeSwap LP positions and other BSC yield sources. The yields were partially real (leveraged farming does produce higher returns) and partially inflated by unsustainable RABBIT token emissions. None of this matters — the protocol was always going to end in a rugpull, so the interim yields were bait. Users who farmed and withdrew before the rugpull were lucky, not smart. Those who stayed lost everything.
Adoption
Rabbit Finance attracted deposits through aggressive Twitter marketing, Telegram shilling, and the general frenzy of BSC DeFi summer 2021. At peak, the protocol held tens of millions in deposits. The user base consisted primarily of BSC DeFi farmers attracted by high APYs and unaware of (or indifferent to) the security risks. Post-rugpull, adoption is obviously zero. The protocol is dead. The community that formed around it dissolved into anger and regret.
Tokenomics
RABBIT token was distributed through farming incentives at high emission rates to attract deposits. The token had no intrinsic value beyond its role as farming bait. Post-rugpull, RABBIT is worthless. Any remaining trading volume is from speculation on dead tokens, which inexplicably persists in crypto. The token's entire existence was designed to drive deposits that could then be stolen. It served its purpose.
Risk Factors
- Confirmed Rugpull: This is not a risk — it already happened. The team stole user funds and disappeared.
- Total Loss: All user deposits were drained. There is no recovery.
- Anonymous Team: The team was never identified, making legal recourse impossible.
- No Audit: The protocol was never properly audited. Any "audit" badges displayed were fabricated.
- Dead Protocol: Website offline, contracts drained, team vanished.
- Ongoing Risk: Any "revival" attempts or similarly named projects should be treated as scams.
Conclusion
Rabbit Finance was a scam. There is no nuance here. An anonymous team forked a legitimate leveraged farming protocol, retained admin keys that allowed fund withdrawal, attracted tens of millions in deposits through high APYs and aggressive marketing, and then stole the money. Every red flag was visible before the rugpull — anonymous team, no audit, admin keys, and unsustainable yield promises. The BSC DeFi environment in 2021 was particularly fertile ground for these scams because low transaction costs enabled rapid deployment and high yield promises attracted unsophisticated capital. Rabbit Finance is a stark reminder: if you can't verify who controls the admin keys and whether they can drain funds, you are not farming — you are gambling that the thief hasn't decided to steal yet.