Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s X account is allegedly claimed to have been compromised. According to leading blockchain researcher ZachXBT, this incident resulted in a collective loss of over $691,000 for the victims after clicking on a malicious link. The incident has sparked debates about the possibility of it happening due to Vitalik Buterin’s high profile and inadequate security measures.
Thousands of Dollars Lost
The mentioned post was later deleted, and it was claimed that this post was published on Buterin’s account to celebrate Proto-Danksharding’s arrival to Ethereum. The hacker convinced the victims to link their wallets by sharing a malicious link to an allegedly free NFT, ultimately stealing all their funds. This incident also led to X’s Ethereum developer Khoo, known as ‘Bokky Poobah,’ claiming losses in his CryptoPunk NFT collection.
Vitalik’s father Dmitry Buterin announced on X on September 9th that his son’s account had been compromised:
“Do not pay attention to this post; it seems Vitalik has been hacked. He is working to regain access.”
At the time of writing, the base price of a CryptoPunk NFT was 46.99 Ethereum, equivalent to approximately $76,837. ZachXBT actively monitors and informs his 438,200 followers about the activities of the hacker. He recently shared that the most valuable NFT stolen so far is a “CryptoPunk #3983” worth approximately $250,543 or 153.62 Ethereum.
Vitalik Must Compensate for the Losses
A user using the pseudonym “Satoshi 767” on X claimed that Buterin may not have taken sufficient security measures for his X account. Before implying that Buterin’s supervision led to the attack, they shared the following statements:
“I hate being the one to say this, but Vitalik should take responsibility for weak op-sec and compensate the affected individuals for their financial losses. The only way this wouldn’t be Vitalik’s negligence is if someone internally compromised the account on X or if it was personally coerced by a criminal threatening violence. I doubt that’s the case. Most likely, it was a SIM swap.”
However, ZachXBT refuted these claims and argued that Buterin’s high profile made him vulnerable to various hacking attempts:
“You don’t yet know if it’s a SIM swap. Vitalik is a big enough target to have had someone paid off internally or used a panel.”
