In a surprising development, on July 23, hackers allegedly compromised Vlad Tenev, the manager of Robinhood’s X account. That said, three unusual signs confirmed this discrepancy.
Arguments in favor of kidnapping
First, a post from the Tenev X account announced the launch of a memecoin called Vladhood ($VLAD).
Described as the “official mascot of the Robinhood chain” and confirmed that the token will also be featured on the Robinhood app, memecoin was quickly considered a scam.
This was mainly because, about two hours before Tenev was sent, ten bags were paid through Relay.
Furthermore, within minutes, these addresses bought $VLAD, creating what the researchers called a 70% ownership cluster.
Based on the timing, we can say that the cooperative group already knew about the establishment. This is because the wallets were already established and received a token before the public announcement.
In addition, a few minutes after the announcement attracted the attention of buyers, it is said that the wallets started selling their products.
Combined, the pre-paid wallets, the distribution of suspicious tokens, and the rapid sales led many to believe that Vlad Tenev’s X account may have been hacked.
In fact, based Analysis of the MLM chainThe attacker made about $1.2 million to $1.3 million from the VLAD token, which was worth around 650 ETH.
Description of Robinhood CEO
Acknowledging these schemes, and several hours after regaining access to X’s account, Tenev approached X and said,
Robinhood’s market updates served as bait
This is related to the release of Robinhood’s new blockchain, the robinhood chain, which are fast growing and high output interest from investors.
According to Dune AnalyticsThe network has raised $750 million in funding since its launch earlier this month.
As evidence of the rapid implementation, user activity has also increased, recording more than 300,000 Daily Active Addresses and approximately 10 million transactions per day.
Needless to say, because of this, many market participants found the rise of $VLAD to be credible.
Other events like that
As expected, such attacks are not unique and have occurred in previous markets.
For example, back in 2024, X stories of several famous people, such as 50 Cent, Dodge CatSydney Sweeney, and many others, were duped into promoting fake memecoins.
Brief Summary
- The group of 70% owners of $VLAD memecoin was one of the main factors that confirmed the exploitation.
- $ 700 million in assets and 300,000 addresses every day is why users believe that the establishment is reliable.
