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A hacker gained control of the Cardano Foundation’s official X account on Sunday (Dec. 8), using it to promote a fraudulent Solana-based coin. The compromised posts advertised a fake “ADAsol” token and falsely stated that ADA would lose official backing due to an ongoing lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The compromised X account was first used to introduce a token called $ADASOL, described as “Cardano, reimagined for Solana’s speed and innovation.”
Within a 13-post thread, the hackers outlined the alleged purpose of $ADASOL, referencing legitimate resources such as the official Cardano Foundation website and a recent podcast episode reportedly discussing the token.
The fake notice read in part: “In light of this unexpected legal action, we have made the difficult decision to immediately cease all support towards the $ADA token to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.”
The @Cardano_CF account remains compromised. Beware: there’s no SEC lawsuit, no token burn, and no “ADASol” bridge. Also, CF team members will never DM you to ask for anything. Follow @Cardano for accurate updates. Big thanks to @support for their help. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/cYoKI0752H
— Cardano Community (@Cardano) December 9, 2024
Cardano calls for better security on X after hack
The public blockchain platform’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, acknowledged the breach in a social media post, though not before the fraudulent ADAsol token recorded roughly $500,000 in trading volume and plummeted in value by 99%.
Hoskinson also called on Elon Musk, who owns X, to implement stronger security measures. He wrote: “Given that the CF account was hacked, it’s a good opportunity to re-visit a change X could make that would dramatically improve security for all users.
“I will implement it for free @elonmusk. Just light the beacon.” ReadWrite previously reported that he suggested implementing decentralized identifiers (DIDs) to enhance the platform’s security.
Given that the CF account was hacked, it's a good opportunity to re-visit a change X could make that would dramatically improve security for all users https://t.co/oaThTPI5wi
I will implement it for free @elonmusk. Just light the beacon
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) December 8, 2024
By the time this was written, both the deceptive ADAsol promotion and the fabricated SEC lawsuit notice had been removed.
The Cardano Foundation is currently working to secure its compromised account. They have stated that no other elements of the Cardano ecosystem were impacted. Nonetheless, users are urged to remain cautious and refrain from clicking any links shared by the Cardano Foundation’s X account until further notice. The company stated on its LinkedIn page: “Please ignore any posts from the account at this time while we address this. Thank you.”
ReadWrite has reached out to the Cardano Foundation for comment.
Featured image: Ideogram
