Robinhood CEO’s X Account Hacked to Promote Unofficial Memecoin
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Written by
Simonas Brazionis - Updated 2026-07-24 11:45:57
The X account of Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev was compromised on Thursday to promote a memecoin called Vladhood ($VLAD).
A post at approximately 17:24 UTC falsely claimed the token was the “official Robinhood chain mascot” and that it would be listed on the Robinhood application. The message, which did not appear on any official Robinhood corporate accounts, also included a contract address for the token.
The token was subsequently flagged as a “potential scam” by the Robinhood Chain's own blockchain explorer. Since being deployed by a contract named PonsLaunchFactory, the token has seen approximately 1,868 transactions.
Launched on July 1, Robinhood Chain is an Ethereum Layer 2 network built using the Arbitrum Orbit stack. The chain has become a center for memecoin trading, processing around 6 million transactions per day. Cumulative DEX volume on the network has reached about $9 billion, driven primarily by high-risk memecoins. Tenev had previously noted that while the chain was built for real-world assets, it also functions well for memes.
Robinhood's communications account on X later confirmed that Tenev's account had been compromised. The company stated it was collaborating with X to regain access and that the unauthorized post had been taken down.
