Tenev's Account Hacked to Promote Scam Memecoin

Robinhood Chain's launch on July 1 has sparked speculative token trading and significant activity on the platform. However, this attention also brings risks, as demonstrated by a recent incident involving CEO Vlad Tenev's X account.

Tenev posted about VLAD, a suspicious memecoin linked to Robinhood Chain, claiming it was the network's official mascot token and would soon be available in the app. The post directed users toward a contract address beginning with 0x92d, but neither Robinhood nor Robinhood Crypto published an announcement.

As a result, Tenev's account deleted the message, while Robinhood Chain's explorer flagged VLAD as a potential scam. An on-chain monitoring tool estimated that the exploiter generated around 650 ETH from the scheme, representing approximately $1.2 million to $1.3 million in losses for traders who followed the alleged endorsement.

The incident highlights security and impersonation risks surrounding fast-moving memecoin launches. With Robinhood Chain processing about six million daily transactions through Arbitrum Orbit technology, the consequences of such scams can be severe.