Robinhood (HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev's X account was compromised on Thursday and used to promote a fraudulent memecoin, an incident that comes as traders have flocked to tokens on the brokerage's recently launched blockchain network.

The now-deleted post introduced a token called Vladhood ($VLAD) as the "official Robinhood chain mascot" and falsely claimed it would be listed within the Robinhood app. The fraudulent message included a blockchain wallet address and described the token as part of the company's focus on Robinhood Chain. "Does Robinhood love memes? The answer is yes," the post read.

Robinhood subsequently confirmed that the account had been hacked. "Heads up: Our CEO Vlad Tenev's X account was compromised and posted a fake promotion for a meme coin," the company said through its communications account on X. "We're working with X to restore access and the post has been removed."

The breach occurred amid a surge of speculative activity on Robinhood's newly launched blockchain, which has become a hub for memecoin trading. Since debuting earlier in July, the network has attracted more than $700 million in assets across stablecoins, tokenized stocks, and memecoins, according to a Dune dashboard created by Entropy Advisors. The dashboard also shows that the blockchain has surpassed 300,000 daily active addresses and processed approximately 10 million transactions in a single day.

The rapid expansion in network activity has fueled a wave of new memecoins seeking to capitalize on the chain's growing popularity. The hack is the latest in a recurring pattern of high-profile X account takeovers used to promote fraudulent tokens, following similar incidents involving the U.S. SEC's official account in January 2024 and numerous celebrity accounts, underscoring the persistent challenge social platforms face in securing verified accounts against crypto-related scams.

Source: CoinDesk