Wormhole Airdrop Under Siege: Scams, Hacks, and Memecoins Run Rampant

Crypto scammers, hackers, and memecoiners have swarmed a substantial $850 million airdrop event from Wormhole, which released its W token on Thursday. Despite the airdrop's official announcement being targeted by multiple scam accounts, Wormhole's founder's Twitter account was compromised to promote wallet drainers.

Wormhole Airdrop Targeted by Scammers, Hackers, and Memecoiners

On Thursday, April 3, Wormhole, a cross-chain bridging platform, distributed $850 million worth of its native governance token, W (W), through an airdrop event. However, the event has been marred by a surge of crypto scams, hacking attempts, and the proliferation of memecoins.

Scam Accounts and Malicious Links Target Official Announcements

Independent blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported on April 3 that Wormhole's official announcement post on Twitter was besieged by "tons" of convincing scam accounts, many of which displayed "gold checkmarks." These accounts attempted to mislead users by providing malicious links.

Furthermore, the official Twitter account of Wormhole founder Robinson Burkey was compromised several hours after the airdrop announcement. The attackers posted malicious links to suspected wallet drainers, prompting Burkey to make his account private.

W Token Price Fluctuates After Airdrop

The W token was officially launched on April 3 at a price of $1.66 on the Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) OpenBook. At launch, it commanded a total market capitalization of $2.98 billion.

Since then, the token's price has experienced a 19.5% drop, currently trading at $1.34. The airdrop allocated 674 million tokens (6.75% of the total supply) for distribution, resulting in a current total value of $896 million for eligible users.

Availability and Layer-2 Integrations

The W token is currently only available on the Solana network. However, the Wormhole team has indicated that it will be made available on the Ethereum network as an ERC-20 token and other layer-2 networks in the future.

Memecoin Parody Emerges

The Wormhole airdrop event has attracted the attention of opportunistic memecoin developers. One such parody token, dubbed "Warmhole," was launched immediately following the airdrop announcement.

Warmhole's market capitalization rapidly surged from around $100,000 at launch to a peak value of $8.3 million, representing an approximately 83,000% gain in less than six hours. Some observers have joked that if Wormhole airdrop recipients had immediately traded their W tokens for Warmhole, they could have become billionaires.

Vigilance Urged Amid Airdrop Frenzy

The Wormhole airdrop event underscores the importance of vigilance in the cryptocurrency space. Users are advised to be cautious of suspicious accounts and links, especially during high-profile airdrop events.

Additionally, it is crucial to verify the authenticity of official announcements by referring to reputable sources and examining the security of accounts before interacting with them.