Why locked liquidity does not mean a token is safe

Every guide on the subject tells you the same thing: locked liquidity means the team cannot rug you, so the token is safer. That was true when the only exit was draining the pool. On modern launchpads the lock has become the scam’s revenue engine, and the checkmark you are looking for is the thing paying the attacker. Summary Locked liquidity means the tokens representing a trading pool’s assets are held in a time-locked contract the creator cannot withdraw from, which blocks the classic rug pull where a team drains the pool and disappears. Nearly every explainer treats that as a safety signal, and in the narrow sense it is: the specific attack it prevents is real and was once the dominant way memecoin buyers lost money. Modern launchpads pair locked liquidity with claimable creator fees, so the pool that cannot be drained still pays its creator a share of every trade, indefinitely. That combination converts a one-time theft into a permanent income stream, and it means an attacker has no reason to rug, because not rugging is more profitable than rugging. Locked liquidity also says nothing about supply concentration, contract permissions, the identity of the team, or whether anyone ...