How Does a “Rug Pull” Differ from a “Pump and Dump” in the Crypto Space?

A pump and dump involves manipulating the price of an already existing, often low-cap, coin. A rug pull, however, is typically associated with a newly created token by the project developers themselves.

In a rug pull, the developers drain the liquidity pool after launching the token, effectively stealing the funds raised from investors. The token's value immediately drops to zero, and the project vanishes.

The key difference is the involvement of the project's own creators.