Hacker Uses 50 Cent’s Twitter to Promote Solana Meme Coin – Here’s What Happened
Rapper 50 Cent, known as Curtis Jackson, has fallen victim to a hacking incident with his X account being used to promote a fraudulent meme coin based on the Solana blockchain.
The hacker took advantage of the ongoing trend of celebrities launching their own meme coins, leading many to believe that 50 Cent was genuinely endorsing a new Solana token called GUNIT, launched through Pump.fun.
The promotional tweets were elaborate, referencing the rapper’s cognac brand and mentioning other celebrity-related crypto projects, including Martin Shkreli’s alleged creation of an official Donald Trump Solana token and influencer Andrew Tate’s promotion of the DADDY coin.
One tweet even featured a meme with 50 Cent at the center, alluding to the Solana ecosystem.
While some users remained suspicious of the posts, others were initially unsure if they were genuine endorsements.
If you bought $GUNIT, then your $5,000 investment just turned into 50 cent. pic.twitter.com/1oA0pea2R3
— SphynxLabs fan $SPHYNX (@Ronald_Crypt0) June 21, 2024
Still, millions of dollars were invested in GUNIT within minutes of the tweets, driving its trading volume to $18.6 million.
The token’s value skyrocketed by a staggering 8,000% before quickly plummeting as liquidity vanished.
The incident highlighted the recent surge in celebrity meme coins created through platforms like Pump.fun, where the endorsement of a well-known personality leads to a surge in value.
Tokens like DADDY, promoted by Andrew Tate, and MOTHER, supported by Iggy Azalea, experienced significant market capitalization growth based solely on celebrity endorsements.
However, the GUNIT scheme quickly unraveled.
50 Cent took to his Instagram account to confirm that his X and website had been hacked, and
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