Veteran Player's Tearful History: I've seen too many people in 2021 who followed "insider tips" and went all-in on shitcoins with 1000 bucks, only for the project team to delete the database and run away after 3 months; in 2024, they got rekt again by "500% APY staking" until even their mom wouldn't recognize them!

The whitepaper isn't just for show—it's the project's "death certificate." Understand it, and 99% of garbage coins will reveal their true colors! Today, no academic BS; using the tears from losing 200k bucks on landmines, I'll teach you how to strip a whitepaper bare in 3 minutes with 5 dragon-slaying knives—each one lethal. Newbies, just copy the homework!

Dragon-Slaying Knife 1: Vague Goals = Trash! Clear Pain Point in One Sentence is Reliable

Open the whitepaper and head to the first page to find the core issue: What specific pain point does this project actually solve?

  • Garbage coin tactics: All about "disrupting Web3," "rebuilding financial order," or "global first-of-its-kind ecosystem"—cosmic-level pie in the sky, rambling on without clarifying "who it's for and what problem it solves";

  • Reliable project standard: Nail it in the first sentence, like: ✅ "Enable African farmers to receive cross-border payments via mobile with zero fees" ✅ "Reduce cross-border e-commerce payouts from 3 days to 3 seconds, slashing fees to 0.1%" ✅ "Solve high minting costs for small merchants' NFTs, as low as 1 USDT on-chain"

Killer Move: If you can't find a "specific pain point + solution" in 30 seconds, close the page! 99% are air coins that rug after the harvest.

Dragon-Slaying Knife 2: Anonymous Team = Death Sentence! Fake Resumes Get Shot on Sight

In 2025, anyone still doing anonymous projects is either a scammer or a scammer preparing to run! Focus on 3 key points—miss one and pass:

  1. Real People, Real Proof: Clear real photos + full real names (don't buy into "Dr. So-and-So" or "anonymous geek");

  2. Verifiable Resume: Searchable on LinkedIn, with work history, skills, and project direction matching (e.g., for an on-chain AI project, resume must have AI experience);

  3. No Forgery Traces: Claiming "ex-Google engineer" or "Ethereum core developer"? Search Google and GitHub for the name—if no related contributions, it's fake.

Tearful Case: In 2023, I fell for a project led by a "former Ethereum core developer"—turns out the photo was Photoshopped, resume all fabricated. The project rugged with 200 million bucks, and I lost 30k!

Killer Move: Anonymous teams? Pass. Unverifiable or fake resumes? They'll rug overnight!

Dragon-Slaying Knife 3: Distorted Token Allocation = Harvester! Team Over 40%? Toss It

Token allocation is the project's "ambition mirror." In 2025, long-lasting projects have team + foundation + early investors total ≤30%, with clear vesting rules:

  • Garbage coin red flags (hit one and run): ❌ Team reserves 40%+ with no vesting or <1 year cliff (dump on unlock); ❌ "Marketing wallet 30%" or "ecosystem fund 20%" without explaining uses or release schedule; ❌ Early investors no vesting, can cash out on launch;

  • Reliable project standard: ✅ Team allocation 10%-20%, vested 3-5 years with phased unlocks; ✅ Community incentives and liquidity mining ≥40% (real user giveaways); ✅ All percentages, unlock times crystal clear, no vagueness.

Killer Move: Vague allocation table, team >40%, vesting <1 year? Pass! This isn't a project—it's a scythe for harvesting retail.

Dragon-Slaying Knife 4: Tech Pie-in-the-Sky = Air! No Open-Source Code? Dead

No need to code—spot tech scams in 3 seconds:

  • Garbage coin tactics: Front page hype like "global first quantum on-chain AI consensus," "cross-chain black hole tech," or "metaverse + Web3 + AI fusion ecosystem"—buzzword salad with no GitHub link;

  • Reliable project standard: ✅ Straight-up GitHub link with weekly updates (checkable commits); ✅ Practical tech like "Ethereum Layer2-based, cutting Gas fees 90%" or "Optimism scaling for faster txns"; ✅ No concept stacking—focus on one tech pain point.

2025 Iron Rule: No open-source code, GitHub stale >3 months, all buzzwords? Pure air—don't touch!

Dragon-Slaying Knife 5: Roadmap "Pie" = Rug Prelude! "Will in the Future" Means Delete and Run

Judge roadmaps by verifiability, not imagination:

  • Garbage coin roadmap: All "Phase1: Build vision," "Phase2: Future ecosystem rollout," or "2025: Cover 1B global users"—unverifiable fluff;

  • Reliable project roadmap: ✅ Specific timelines + achievable goals, like: "2025 Q2: Mainnet launch, ETH cross-chain support" "2025 Q3: Partner with Dubai e-com platform for payments" "2025 Q4: 1000+ community nodes, 100M USDT volume"

Killer Move: Roadmap with "will in the future," "planned to achieve," or "vision building"? Pass! A 2024 rug project promised "global coverage in 2025"—site's down now.

2025 New Must-Kill: Miss These 3, You'll Still Get Rekt!

Whitepaper alone isn't enough—these 3 "hidden metrics" are the final defense; many don't even know them:

  1. Audit Report Check: No audits from Hacken, CertiK, or PeckShield? Pass! 90% of 2025 rugs skipped proper audits;

  2. Real Community Size: Discord active <5000, Twitter comments all bots (repetitive scripts, no substance)? Run! Real projects have user discussions and feedback, not just "go go go" spam;

  3. Fund Flow Monitoring: Use Nansen or Arkham to check team wallets—if big funds quietly move to Binance/OKX near unlock, they're prepping a dump. Stay away!

Old Leek's Heart-to-Heart Truth

The whitepaper isn't for deep-diving tech details—it's for judging in 3 minutes: Is this project here to "build" or to "harvest leeks"?

2025 bull market is here, but garbage coins are 10x more than 2021! Jumping in without checking the whitepaper isn't investing—it's working for scammers.

Core Logic: More sincere the team, more specific the whitepaper (concrete pain points, transparent team, clear allocation, verifiable roadmap); more harvest-minded, more fluffy (wild pies, anon team, distorted allocation, pie roadmaps).

Etch these 5 dragon-slaying knives + 3 new must-kills into your DNA—99% zero-out coins won't touch you! In 2025, surviving beats making bank. Follow this, and you'll save at least 300k bucks!

👉 Comment below: What's the worst whitepaper scam you've fallen for? Like, save, share with friends eyeing crypto—saving one life beats building seven pagodas!