DefiLlama’s founder said Apple removed one fake app within days after the company documented it draining funds from a small crypto wallet.

DefiLlama delayed the launch of its mobile app while it spent months trying to get Apple to remove phishing apps from its App Store that impersonated the analytics provider, according to the company’s pseudonymous founder, 0xngmi.

“We waited ‘till all the fake apps were taken down before we launched ours to avoid any user getting scammed,” 0xngmi said in a Saturday X post.

DefiLlama had tried for months to get one malicious app removed, but Apple took it down “in days” after the team downloaded the app and documented a small wallet being drained, 0xngmi added.

The episode highlights a recurring problem for crypto users, where fake apps can mimic well-known brands closely enough to slip into mainstream marketplaces and create a risk that extends beyond DefiLlama itself. For projects that distribute tools tied to wallets or onchain data, the presence of impersonation apps can affect whether users trust a launch in the first place.

Cointelegraph has approached Apple for comment.

Fake apps impersonating major crypto brands have appeared on the App Store before, including those impersonating Rabby wallet and Curve Finance in 2024.

In November 2023, a fake Ledger Live app on the Microsoft Store resulted in the theft of $588,000 across 38 transactions. The pattern has made app-store screening and user vigilance a continuing concern for crypto companies that rely on consumer-facing downloads as a distribution channel.