Robinhood has confirmed that chief executive Vlad Tenev’s X account was hacked after it was used to advertise a bogus cryptocurrency token during a period of intense memecoin speculation.
The compromised account published a post on Thursday promoting a fake memecoin called Vladhood, trading under the ticker $VLAD, and described it as the “official Robinhood chain mascot”.
In the now-deleted message, the post falsely claimed the token would be listed on the Robinhood trading app and invited users to engage with the scheme, even sharing a blockchain wallet address to which funds could be sent.
Robinhood said the post was fraudulent and that Tenev’s account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, had been taken over by an unauthorised party. The company did not disclose how long the account had been under the control of the attacker or whether any users had transferred money to the address publicised in the fake promotion.
The incident comes at a sensitive moment for Robinhood, which has recently launched its own blockchain network and is seeing a rapid build-up of capital and speculative activity around new tokens.
According to the company, more than $700m worth of assets have already been moved onto the new network, drawing significant interest from traders targeting highly volatile memecoins.
That heightened attention has coincided with a broader frenzy in the memecoin market, where traders chase sharp price swings in tokens often built around internet jokes, memes or personalities rather than fundamental projects.
The fake Vladhood promotion attempted to tap directly into that speculative environment by implying an official link to Robinhood and suggesting a forthcoming listing on the firm’s platform – a claim the company says is entirely untrue.
While the post has been removed, its appearance under Tenev’s verified identity highlights the risk for investors who rely on social media announcements when making trading decisions, particularly in fast-moving areas such as memecoins.
The episode also underscores the wider vulnerability of high-profile accounts on X and other platforms, where any breach can be quickly exploited to push fraudulent investment schemes to large audiences.
Robinhood has not announced any changes to its security or listing procedures as a result of the hack, but the incident is likely to raise further questions over how crypto-related promotions are monitored and verified online, especially when they appear to come from senior figures within major trading platforms.
