Vitalik Buterin’s X Account Hacked, Attacker Stole Over $690K
Vitalik Buterin's X-account Was Hacked
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has become the latest victim of a Twitter hack, resulting in the theft of $691,000 from unsuspecting users who followed a corrupted link posted on his feed.
The issue came to light on Saturday when a post on Buterin's account announced the release of commemorative non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from software vendor Consensys. The malicious link, which might have been seen by Buterin's 4.9 million followers, duped victims into connecting their wallets in order to mint the NFTs. Instead of minting tokens, the connection enabled the hacker to steal money from the victims.
Alert users on Crypto Twitter were quick to recognize the fake link, but the first confirmation of Buterin's hack came from his father, Dmitriy "Dima" Buterin. Although the post has since been deleted, several victims reported losing access to their wallet funds.
According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, the hacker stole around $147,000 in a short period of time, which then grew to $691,000. Notably, the hacker also sent a stolen “Vitalik Elementals” NFT to Buterin.
As of now, Buterin has not publicly commented on the incident, with his latest post being a retweet from September 6. The exact number of users affected by the hack remains unknown.
This event adds to the growing number of NFT community social media hacks that have resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in tokens. There has been debate about the responsibilities of developers to recompense victims for their losses. Twitter's security has also been called into question, particularly in comparison to traditional financial accounts.
