An eyebrow-raising development in the cryptocurrency world has come from entrepreneur Mohammed Dewji, who is known on Twitter as @moodewji.
He recently launched a new token called $TANZANIA and sold it very quickly to what appears to have been a set of very unsuspecting investors. Dewji made a serious profit on this transaction, netting him $1.48 million. There are serious questions being raised about the appearance and, in some cases, the outright fact, of his having engaged in a pump-and-dump scheme.
The $TANZANIA Token: A Brief Overview
Lookonchain’s reports detail that the latest scheme from Dewji, termed $TANZANIA, saw the execution of a number of transactions carefully staged to take advantage of market sentiment and the eagerness of investors. First, Dewji dispersed 90 $SOL, valued at around $18,000, across 20 different wallet addresses. This move was almost certainly intended to establish a baseline level of legitimacy for $TANZANIA and, with the help of some obfuscation, ensure that the token would not immediately be pinpointed as a likely suspect in a pump-and-dump scheme.
Once this initial distribution was secured, Dewji moved on to what was really the point of his scheme—gobbling up a huge chunk of the $TANZANIA supply. In a carefully arranged operation, Dewji bought up a stunning 793 million $TANZANIA tokens, which worked out to 79.5% of the total token supply. This virtual monopoly of the $TANZANIA supply gave Dewji full control over the token’s value and its market moves.
The Sell-Off: Dewji’s Quick Profit
After Dewji had built up his significant position in $TANZANIA, he took a calculated step to share the contract address for the token with the public. This action sparked a surge of interest and pulled investors into the market, who were ready to jump on what they thought was a credible new token launch. The hype was real, and Dewji was running the show, enabling him to sell off his 793 million $TANZANIA tokens for a big, juicy profit.
The sale enabled Dewji to realize a total of 7,373 $SOL (worth around $1.5 million) for his $TANZANIA holdings, netting him a mind-blowing profit of 7,283 $SOL (about $1.48 million) after the offload. Why was the timing of this transaction crucial? By creating the illusion of a promising new token and reaping the benefits of the initial excitement, Dewji was able to sell his huge position at the peak of market enthusiasm while keeping his own risk at a minimum.
Upon finishing the sale, Dewji moved quickly to delete any and all tweets and other references to $TANZANIA, apparently attempting to erase his involvement with the project from the online world. This clean exit has raised eyebrows, with some asking if the whole token launch was not just a way to fund local development but a planned exit strategy that started with the funding and ended with his fast removal of the project’s online presence.
Investors Left in the Dust
Those who purchased the $TANZANIA token based on Dewji’s promotion did not fare well after the fact. Once Dewji dumped his place, the price of $TANZANIA dove, leaving countless investors holding the bag and in some cases, clutching tokens that are now worthless. The swift decline in value has the appearance of a “pump-and-dump,” a scheme in which a large holder hypes up a token to inflate its price before selling and pocketing the profits.
The rapid vanishing of Dewji from social media intensified doubts that the whole scheme was meant to net a speedy profit while leaving behind some hapless retail investors. With no new word from Dewji on what’s going on, the investors who bought into the operation are stuck with it and are now presumably just hoping it somehow recovers before they write off their forfeit as bad luck.
A Question of Ethics
Cryptocurrency community concerns have arisen because of Dewji’s actions. This is about more than just launches; it’s about ethics and investor protection. It’s not unusual for the digital asset world to have common pump-and-dump schemes, but what’s making this one special (in a not-so-good way) is how quickly and sharply Dewji executed it. Now, we’re left with questions and concerns about the influencer role in the community and an individual’s fallout when they act in bad faith.
Although Dewji earned profits from the $TANZANIA token, he may suffer damages to his reputation from this and similar ventures. Many in the cryptocurrency community consider such schemes as bad for the long-term health of the market. They are widely viewed as eroding trust in new projects and making potential investors more skittish about participating in future token launches.
Mohammed Dewji MO (@moodewji) launched $TANZANIA and sold it to investors, pocketing $1.48M!
He distributed 90 $SOL($18K) to 20 wallets and bought 793M $TANZANIA(79.5% of the total supply).
After accumulating his position, he shared the contract address, then offloaded all 793M… pic.twitter.com/QI269w991P
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 5, 2025
Though Dewji may have gotten rich from the $TANZANIA scheme, the larger cryptocurrency market is dealing with the aftermath of such schemes. The public is becoming ever more aware of the dangers that come with investing in tokens whose worth is unproven. With this growing awareness, it seems certain that the cryptocurrency industry—along with regulatory authorities—will start to look for ways to prevent similar schemes from being pulled in the future.
What Dewji did really highlights the lesson that, for us as investors, due diligence is necessary when entering the crypto market. It is too easy in this fast-moving, lightly regulated space to get caught up in the idea of investing in something with such potential to change the world, and to blur the lines between what is real, what is innovative, and what is simply a shell game. Unlike the stock market, which has both a long history and a vast body of U.S. law and regulation that serve to protect investors, the crypto market is effectively a lawless frontier.
Regarding Dewji, even if he has avoided the public eye for a bit after removing his social media posts, the mark left on how people view his integrity in the crypto world is something that is going to stick with him. The episode with $TANZANIA is a clear and present reminder of the sorts of dangers you can encounter in the digital asset market and an urgent call for improved transparency and accountability in it if the promised protection of the investing public is to mean anything at all.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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