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- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had his X account hacked, with hackers posting a malicious link.
- The link resulted in the theft of $691,000 from some of his 4.9 million users who followed it on his page.
- The post was a fake announcement of a new non-fungible token series.
A hacker gained access to the X account of ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and posted a malicious link to 4.9 million followers on Saturday.
The post was disguised as a free commemorative non-fungible token from software firm Consensys. Users who clicked on it and connected their digital wallets in a bid to mint an NFT instead had their funds drained.
Popular blockchain sleuth ZachXBT found that the attacker swindled a total of about $691,000, though the exact number of victims is not known.
ZachXBT also pointed out that the hacker sent Buterin an NFT named "Vitalik" following the attack.
—ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 10, 2023
The post has since been deleted, and several X users flagged it to others on the platform, warning that it was a hacker. Buterin's father, Dmitriy, was among those who shared a word of caution in a post.
—dima.eth (@BlockGeekDima) September 9, 2023
As for Buterin, he has not commented on the matter or posted anything on X since the hack happened.
Big money swindles are nothing new in the digital asset space. In 2022, hackers made off with $3.8 billion, with North Korea-linked hacking groups leading the way with record theft volumes. Among the largest was Lazarus Group, which was a key player in the infamous $620 million Axie Infinity hack last year.