The altcoin community was shaken by a hacking incident affecting Near Protocol’s official X account. On May 8, a series of unusual tweets and changes were made to the account, raising concerns about a security breach and the potential motivations behind it.
Has Near Protocol’s X account behind the altcoin NEAR been hacked?
The crypto community is abuzz following a suspicious hack involving Near Protocol’s official X account. On May 8, a series of unusual tweets and changes were made to the account; This has raised concerns about a security breach and the potential reasons behind it. The events started with a seemingly innocuous but disturbing message. Around 21:18 ET, Near Protocol’s X account posted a 27-second Morse Code video devoid of context. When the message was decrypted, it revealed a chilling phrase: “Darkness is coming.”
These ominous movements were followed by a flurry of activity just two hours later. The compromised account revealed four consecutive tweets written in a gothic font often associated with heavy metal music. The cryptic and disturbing messages included:
- “The sun rises from the east”
- “take back your thoughts”
- “darkness”
- “take back your sovereignty”
The theme of the account has also changed
The account’s name and description were also changed to reflect the gothic theme in addition to the spooky atmosphere. These major changes, combined with troubling messages, sparked speculation of a hack within the crypto community and blockchain researchers. However, at the time of this writing, the Near Protocol has yet to officially confirm or deny the incident.
There is a risk of fraud in X accounts
cryptokoin.com As we reported, while some are speculating about a potential phishing scam similar to the one targeting CoinGecko’s X account earlier this year, others in the Near community see the encrypted messages as a harbinger of positive developments for the protocol’s ecosystem. This event occurred in the midst of a period of significant change for Near Protocol. In January, the protocol’s developer, the Near Foundation, laid off 40% of its staff, citing a strategic shift towards a “narrower, higher-impact set of activities.”
This move, which aims to streamline operations and accelerate decentralized management in the Near ecosystem, resulted in the departure of 35 employees from the marketing, business development and community teams. The timing of the hack of account X in the wake of recent layoffs raises other questions. Could these events be related to each other? Is the hacker trying to exploit concerns about protocol restructuring?
Meanwhile, the NEAR price seems unaffected by the situation. In the hours when interesting messages emerged, the coin dropped from $ 7.06 to $ 6.8. However, at the time of writing, it is changing hands at $ 7.12. It even reached a peak of $7.3 in the last 24 hours.
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