Sydney Sweeney’s X account hacked to promote crypto memecoin
The X account of American actress Sydney Sweeney was hacked with now-deleted posts promoting a crypto token bearing her name in an apparent pump-and-dump scheme.
The Solana-based token SWEENEY amassed over $10 million in trading volume within two hours of its launch on July 2, bolstered by several promotional posts made from Sweeney’s X account.
“Well I think it’s time… $sweeney is now live 100mc incoming,” said one of Sweeney’s now-deleted X posts shared online, which Cointelegraph could not independently verify.
One of Sweeney’s X posts promoting the SWEENEY token. Source: Ioa chim Viju /XSWEENEY’s price dropped nearly 90% in a little over an hour starting at 6:15 pm UTC, though it has partially rebounded since then. Its market cap currently sits at $1.2 million, down from its peak of $3.85 million, DEX Screener data shows.
The administrator of a Telegram channel linked to the token, which was shared on Sweeney’s X account, seemingly took credit for the hack.
Messages from the hacker of Sweeney’s X account. Source: TelegramIn now-deleted posts , they claimed they were also behind recent X account hacks on rapper 50 Cent and ex-pro wrestler Hulk Hogan used to promote similarly faked tokens. They added they would soon target a celebrity even more “popular” than Sweeney but did not give specific details.
It’s the second time Sweeney’s X account has been hacked to promote a crypto token. In January, her account was breached, with hackers promoting the Solana token MILK, which currently has a $1 million market cap.
The hack comes after several minor celebrities have turned to promoting crypto tokens .
Related: Vitalik Buterin slams celebrity memecoins
Media personality Caitlyn Jenner and rapper Iggy Azalea both launched and backed Solana-based memecoins, which they say initially involved memecoin collaborator Sahil Arora .
American rapper “Rich the Kid,” Nigerian singer David Adedeji Adeleke Oon and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather were among the other celebrities that had token launches promoted from their X accounts.
Azalea’s MOTHER token was the best-performing celeb token of the lot, reaching a market cap of $148.9 million at its peak.
However, nearly $100 million has been shaved from its market cap since, CoinGecko data shows .
Magazine: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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