Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X Account Hacked To Shill Scam Token

According to Bubblemaps, scammers gained control of Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account. The compromised profile was immediately weaponized to promote VLAD, a fake token masquerading as the official mascot of the Robinhood Chain.

Onchain analysts spotted the setup phase shortly before the scam post went live, tracking a tight cluster of linked wallet addresses orchestrating the play.

Anotomy of the exploit

Posting from Tenev's handle right before the company's official earnings report, the scammers claimed they were dropping the "official" VLAD token with plans to list it directly on the Robinhood app.

At the time of writing, the fraudulent post has been deleted, indicating Tenev likely recovered access to his profile.

Bubblemaps researchers pointed out that the attackers methodically prepped the battlefield to manipulate liquidity:

• Wallet clustering: Roughly two hours before hitting publish, the hackers funded around 10 fresh addresses via the Relay bridge protocol.
• Supply cornering: The team sniped VLAD within minutes of launch, allowing this 10-wallet cluster to corner 70% of the circulating supply.
• Cashing out: The moment the fake announcement dropped on Tenev's feed, the compromised wallets began dumping their bags onto retail buyers.

Evolution of account hijacks

The attack on Robinhood’s top executive underscores a dominant meta spanning 2024–2026. Back in 2020, high-profile social media hacks relied on crude "send double your Bitcoin back" double-your-money traps. Today, attackers exclusively focus on deploying and pumping scam memecoins.

The current playbook remains consistent: compromise a verified profile, launch a token on launchpads like Pump.fun, pump the price using the victim's clout, and execute a swift rugpull.

These exploits continue to hit high-profile targets at a relentless pace:

• SpaceX and Starlink (July 2026): Attackers compromised the SpaceXAI and Starlink handles to shill the SCATMAN token on the Robinhood Chain. Using a fake badge under the handle Sam Catman, the bad actors pumped the token's market cap to $2 million, pocketing roughly $125,000 to $135,000 in ETH within 20 minutes before pulling the rug and sending the price down 98%.
• Dean Norris (January 2025): Hackers hijacked the Breaking Bad actor’s account to push the DEAN and SCHRADER memecoins, an exploit Norris later confirmed himself.
• Drake (Late 2024/Early 2025): Scammers commandeered the artist’s profile to market the Solana-based ANITA token, pulling in over $5 million in volume before dumping on followers.
• Wiz Khalifa, Doja Cat, Caitlyn Jenner (2024–2025): A string of high-visibility breaches targeted musicians and media personalities to push various shitcoins.

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