Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Account Hacked, Resulting to $691000 Losses

In a recent publication, the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, claimed that his account was hacked. News concerning the malicious attack on Buterin was shared by a blockchain investigator, ZachXBT.

In the report, ZachXBT noted that the bad players launched a malicious link on the Buterin account. Reportedly, the Ethereum inventor and proponents fell victim to the exploit after clicking the link under investigation, enabling the hackers to access the account and heist assets worth over $691000.

Buterin Account Hacked

Besides stealing substantial assets, the bad players posted false news concerning the “Proto-Danksharding coming to Ethereum.” The criminals updated the Buterin followers on the expected launching of the Proto-Danksharding, commonly known as the EIP-4844, a new feature on the Ethereum network seeking to reduce the rollup cost.

Consequently, the hackers shared with Buterin fans a suspicious link that laid out the procedure to secure a free celebrative nonfungible token (NFT). Guided by the set policies, the hackers urged the public to directly connect the link to their wallets.

The ZachXBT regretted that the malicious link and the free NFT were a plot to steal the public’s hard-earned money. Surprisingly, after realizing the Buterin account had been compromised, the ZachXBT promptly informed the community about the attack. At that time, the Buterin account had around 438200 followers and was at risk of clicking suspicious links.

Bok Khoo, alias “Bokky Poobah,” the prominent Ethereum developer, was among the victims who fell into the hackers’ trap. In his X post, the developer confessed to losing substantial assets on his CryptoPunk NFT account. At that time, the CryptoPunk NFT prices were trading close to 46.99 Ether, which equates to $76837.

Ethereum Investors Suffers Losses

A comment from one of Buterin’s followers demonstrated that the Ethereum community was disappointed. The affected follower advised Buterin to be more accountable for the incident  and compensate the victims.

In his address, the follower blamed Buterin for developing a platform with poor op-sec. He labeled Buterin’s oversight as impractical, which triggered the malicious attack.

The Buterin supporters argued that the attack was not a result of negligence from the Ethereum team. From their analysis, the followers noted that the Ethereum team neither did they compromised with the system nor collaborated with the hackers to steal the customers’ funds.

Elsewhere, market speculators referred to the Buterin incident as just an ordinary SIM swap. Responding to the allegations, ZachXBT recognized Buterin as a critical player in the crypto industry, and by no chance could an insider be hired to compromise his account.

In the report, the blockchain investigator dismissed claims that the malicious attack resulted from a SIM swap. However, the contribution made by Buterin to revolutionize the crypto sector could expose him to susceptible actions, including hacking attempts.

Replying to a ZackXBT report, a user nicknamed Satoshi 767 updated on X account (formerly Twitter) that Buterin failed to implement adequate security measures to safeguard his account from hacking.

Similarly in a sunday X post, Buterin’s father, Dmitry Buterin, expressed his remorsefulness concerning the incident. The troubled father restated that his son’s account was hacked, exposing him to significant financial losses. He added that his son is working on restoring access to his account.

Notably the Buterin incident negatively affected the price of major crypto assets according to CoinMarketCap. At that time when the incident occurred, ten crypto assets, including Solana, established a dribbling momentum.