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3 min min read

What a honeypot is and how to expose one

The scam that looks invisible until you try to sell

What it is, in plain terms

A "honeypot" is a token whose contract is written to allow buying normally, but technically block any attempt to sell — or allow selling only to specific addresses authorized by the developer.

It's one of the most deceptive scams precisely because, watching the price rise and buying volume grow, everything looks completely normal: the problem only shows up at the exact moment you try to cash out.

Why it's hard to spot on your own

The code of a honeypot contract often looks technically valid at first glance, and the token may even show apparently active trading volume (sometimes generated by the organizers themselves to create the illusion of a healthy market).

The only truly reliable way to find out before investing real money is to technically simulate a sale, without actually executing it.

How CriptoCheck checks it

We ask Jupiter (the main trade aggregator on Solana) for a quote to sell a small symbolic amount of the token in exchange for SOL — without actually executing the transaction.

If Jupiter finds a valid selling route, the token is considered sellable. If it finds no route at all, that's a strong signal — though not absolute proof — of a honeypot.

What it does NOT guarantee, to be honest

A negative test (no selling route found) doesn't always mean bad faith: it can also happen with a token that's simply too new, or with liquidity still too low for a real selling market to exist.

That's why, when the test fails due to a technical issue (e.g. Jupiter not responding), CriptoCheck flags it as data unavailable, distinct from an actual red alert.

Now that you know what it means, try CriptoCheck on a real token.

Check a token now