Less than 20 minutes was all it took for a fake VLAD token post to cause a stir on Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account. The fraudulent message claimed VLAD was Robinhood Chain’s mascot token and urged users to buy it, showing a contract address that turned out to be a scam.
The post amassed over 175,000 views before being flagged and removed. Robinhood confirmed their CEO’s account had been hacked and they were working with X to restore control and remove the false content.
Blockchain monitoring tools revealed wallets tied to this scam managed to siphon roughly 650 ETH, valued between $1.2 million and $1.3 million. This rapid extraction hints at a well-organized effort taking advantage of a brief vulnerability.
One investigator noted the attacker’s wallet spent about $126 buying 47.2 million VLAD tokens, which on paper were worth around $159,000 at the time. Yet, limited liquidity meant the full amount was likely unsellable, a common issue with scam tokens.
The incident comes soon after the launch of Robinhood Chain on July 1, a new Ethereum Layer 2 network aiming to enhance Robinhood’s crypto offerings. The fake post’s claim that VLAD would be listed on Robinhood’s trading platform was baseless and part of the deceit.
Robinhood's swift response helped minimize damage, but the episode sheds light on ongoing risks in crypto platforms’ social media security. It also shows the challenges in policing fake memecoins within emerging blockchain ecosystems.
