Hacker Exploits 50 Cent’s Twitter Account to Promote Solana Meme Coin – Here’s the Story
Renowned rapper Curtis Jackson, widely known as 50 Cent, has fallen victim to a hacking incident in which his Twitter account was used to endorse a fraudulent meme coin based on the Solana blockchain.
Taking advantage of the current trend of celebrities launching their own meme coins, the hacker managed to convince many that 50 Cent was genuinely endorsing a new Solana token called GUNIT, which was launched through Pump.fun.
The promotional tweets were cleverly crafted, making references to the rapper’s cognac brand and mentioning other celebrity-related crypto projects. These included Martin Shkreli’s alleged creation of an official Donald Trump Solana token and influencer Andrew Tate’s promotion of the DADDY coin.
One tweet even featured a meme with 50 Cent at the center, subtly alluding to the Solana ecosystem.
The impact of the hacker’s actions was significant. While some users remained skeptical of the posts, many were unsure at first if they were genuine endorsements. Consequently, millions of dollars were invested in GUNIT within minutes of the tweets, driving its trading volume to $18.6 million.
The value of the token surged by an astonishing 8,000% before rapidly plummeting as liquidity disappeared.
This incident sheds light on the recent surge in celebrity meme coins created through platforms like Pump.fun, where the endorsement of a well-known personality leads to a surge in value. Tokens like DADDY, promoted by Andrew Tate, and MOTHER, supported by Iggy Azalea, have experienced significant market capitalization growth solely based on celebrity endorsements.
However, the scheme surrounding GUNIT quickly unraveled. 50 Cent took to his Instagram account to confirm that his Twitter account had been hacked, and the posts were not authentic. He locked his account, rendering all tweets inaccessible.
As the truth emerged, the value of GUNIT continued to decline, but it still maintains a market capitalization of approximately $70,000, with new purchases being made.
In his Instagram update, 50 Cent claimed that the hacker made off with $300 million. However, multiple data sources revealed that GUNIT’s market capitalization during its brief spike was only a fraction of that amount. This highlights the disparity between a token’s market cap and the actual liquidity accessible to its creator.
The incident involving 50 Cent is not an isolated case during the ongoing frenzy of celebrity meme coins. Just earlier this month, wrestler Hulk Hogan experienced a similar hack, with his Twitter account used to promote a HULK token that generated $82 million in trading volume within a day.
Cryptocurrency scams have thrived on Twitter, with analysts attributing a significant portion of all crypto scams to scammers on the platform. Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company present on Twitter, conducted an analysis revealing that nearly $50 million is lost each month due to account impersonation.
While these problems existed prior to Elon Musk’s involvement in the platform, the confusion surrounding the new owner’s controversial paid verification service may contribute to the continued vulnerability of the general public to impersonation scams. The service allows anyone with a smartphone to register and receive verification, potentially adding to the challenges faced in distinguishing genuine accounts from fraudulent ones.
Recently, Binance co-founder Yi He raised concerns about the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams on Twitter, questioning whether Musk would take action to tackle the issue.
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