Hackers took over Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev's X account on Thursday, using it to promote a fake token called Vladhood (VLAD) and pocketing roughly $1.2 million to $1.3 million before the post was removed. The attackers claimed the token was the official mascot of Robinhood Chain and would be listed on the Robinhood app — neither of which was true. Blockchain trackers have flagged the token as a likely scam.
The fake token and the scam
The post went up on Tenev's account Thursday morning, touting Vladhood as the mascot of Robinhood Chain, which launched on July 1. The token was supposedly going to be listed on the Robinhood app — a claim that would have been huge if real. It wasn't. The attackers generated about 650 ETH from the scam, worth between $1.2 million and $1.3 million at current prices. The post has since been deleted, but the token is still out there, flagged by blockchain monitors as a scam.
Silence from Robinhood
Neither Robinhood's main X account nor Robinhood Crypto's account acknowledged the incident during the hack. Tenev himself hasn't commented publicly since the account was secured. The company's silence left users and traders in the dark for hours, with many asking in replies whether the post was real. It wasn't — but the lack of a quick official response didn't help.
Robinhood Chain, built on Ethereum, was designed for tokenized stocks and real-world assets. But since its launch on July 1, meme coins have dominated the chain's activity. Total trading volume on Robinhood Chain has reached roughly $9 billion, much of it driven by speculative tokens. Tenev had previously welcomed meme coins on the chain, saying it 'works great for memes too.' That statement now looks a bit awkward given Thursday's events.
Similar incident with Coinbase CEO
This isn't the first time a crypto CEO's X account has been hijacked to push a fake token. Earlier this month, a similar scam hit Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong — attackers used his account to promote a fake coin named after him. That incident also involved a quick pump-and-dump, though the exact amount stolen wasn't disclosed. The pattern is clear: high-profile accounts are being targeted, and the scammers are getting bolder.
What happens next? The FBI and other agencies often get involved in cases like this, but no official investigation has been announced. Robinhood users are left wondering whether the company's security protocols are tight enough — and whether the fake Vladhood token will continue to circulate on decentralized exchanges.
