Wormhole Hacker Briefly Eligible for Airdropped Tokens

The perpetrator of the Wormhole hack in 2022 was briefly eligible to receive airdropped W tokens. Researcher Pland discovered this oversight, and the Wormhole team promptly excluded the hacker's addresses from eligibility. Despite a 25% decline in W's value during its first trading day, major exchanges like Binance have listed it, boosting its trading volume.

Wormhole Hacker Briefly Eligible for Airdropped Tokens

In a surprising turn of events, the hacker responsible for the infamous 2022 Wormhole hack, which resulted in the theft of over 80,000 ETH, was briefly entitled to receive an undisclosed amount of airdropped W tokens. This revelation was made by pseudonymous blockchain researcher Pland.

Amicable Response

The discovery sparked amusement within the crypto community, with Austin Federa, the head of strategy at Solana Foundation, quipping, "This is actually an incredible commitment to protocol neutrality."

Quick Reaction from Wormhole

The news quickly spread, prompting the Wormhole team to swiftly remove the hacker's addresses from the airdrop eligibility list. CryptoSlate confirmed the exclusion through the Airdrop Checker website.

Wormhole Airdrop

Interoperability protocol Wormhole launched its native W token on April 3, attracting significant attention. However, the event also drew the attention of malicious actors who spread phishing links related to the airdrop.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT reported numerous accounts with verified badges engaging in phishing scams, while web3 security firm Scam Sniffer detected 18 fake accounts linked to Wormhole and over 100 phishing sites added to its blocklist.

Scam Sniffer's Warning

Scam Sniffer emphasized, "Every airdrop presents a prime opportunity for scammers. Stay alert and protect your assets."

W Token Performance

W's value experienced a steep decline of more than 25% in its first 24 hours of trading as airdrop claimers cashed in on their assets. Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that the digital asset's value surged to $1.59 before falling sharply to $1.15 at the time of writing.

Despite the decline, major exchanges such as Binance and OKX have listed W, propelling its trading volume into the top 10 of the most traded assets over the past day.

Conclusion

The Wormhole airdrop served as a reminder of the vigilance required in the cryptocurrency space, as malicious actors remain active in exploiting opportunities to steal funds. The community's quick response and the measures taken by Wormhole ensured that the hacker was denied access to the airdropped tokens.