Attackers hijacked Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s verified X account on Thursday to advertise a faux meme coin known as Vladhood (VLAD).
Robinhood confirmed the breach, stated the put up was unauthorized, and harassed the account has been secured.
For Robinhood Chain, the Ethereum layer-2 launched July 1, speculative meme cash have eclipsed tokenized shares on the community.
Robinhood’s communications group stated Thursday that CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was briefly taken over by attackers who used it to advertise a fraudulent meme coin, the newest rip-off to piggyback on the brokerage’s crypto ambitions.
The bogus put up, since deleted, pitched a token known as Vladhood, buying and selling below the ticker VLAD, and framed it because the “official mascot of Robinhood Chain.” It went a step additional, falsely claiming the coin was slated for a list on the Robinhood app—a hook designed to lend the scheme legitimacy by Tenev’s verified profile.
“Our CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was compromised and posted a faux promotion for a meme coin,” the corporate wrote from its official comms account, including that the token was not approved. Robinhood stated the account was subsequently secured.
🚨Heads up: Our CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was compromised and posted a faux promotion for a meme coin.
We’re working with X to revive entry and the put up has been eliminated.
— Robinhood Comms (@RobinhoodComms) July 23, 2026
The episode matches an uncomfortable sample of high-profile accounts on X and different social-media platforms being hacked to advertise meme coin scams. All through 2024, as meme coin buying and selling hit a frenzy, superstar accounts on X have been steadily hacked to advertise faux meme cash, together with these belonging to Sydney Sweeny, Doja Cat, and 50 Cent.
Robinhood, in the meantime, launched the general public mainnet of Robinhood Chain, its Ethereum layer-2 community, on July 1, pitching it as infrastructure for tokenized shares and different real-world belongings. As an alternative, early exercise has been dominated by speculative meme cash, and the community has in consequence now drawn its share of scams and rug pulls.
Losses have piled up. One holder of CashCat—the chain’s most outstanding meme coin—reportedly misplaced $56,000 to a compromised good contract, whereas different merchants described funds vanishing the moment swaps confirmed.
For Tenev, who as soon as dismissed belongings missing underlying utility earlier than conceding his chain “works nice for memes too,” the hack underscores how meme coin frenzy can crowd even ventures constructed for severe buying and selling.
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