How Wormhole hacker almost profited from W token airdrop mishap

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

The malicious actor behind the infamous hack incident that stole over 80,000 ETH from Wormhole in 2022 was briefly entitled to receive an undisclosed amount of airdropped W tokens, pseudonymous blockchain researcher Pland revealed.

In his social media post on X, Pland quipped:

“Wormhole forgot to exclude the exploiter from the airdrop.”

Degen News corroborated the finding, disclosing that four Solana wallets linked to the hacker could claim $52,700 worth of W tokens.

Austin Federa, the head of strategy at Solana Foundation, saw the funny side to this episode, saying:

“This is actually an incredible commitment to protocol neutrality.”

Meanwhile, this news attracted widespread community scrutiny, prompting the Wormhole team to remove these addresses’ eligibility. CryptoSlate confirmed the exclusion of these addresses via the Airdrop Checker website.

Wormhole airdrop

Interoperability protocol Wormhole released its native W token on April 3 to much acclaim from the crypto community.

The event attracted significant attention from malicious players spreading phishing links about the event.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT revealed “tons of accounts with gold checkmarks in the replies posting phishing scams.”

Similarly, web3 security firm Scam Sniffer reported that its extension tool “alerted users to as many as 18 fake accounts related” to Wormhole. It added that over 100 phishing sites related to Wormhole have been added to our blocklist.”

“Every airdrop presents a prime opportunity for scammers. Stay alert and protect your assets,” Scam Sniffer added.

W down 25%

Meanwhile, W’s value has seen a steep decline of more than 25% during its first 24 hours of trading as airdrop claimers cash in on their assets.

CoinMarketCap data shows that the digital asset’s value spiked to as high as $1.59 during the reporting period before drastically falling to $1.15 as of press time.

However, despite this decrease, several major exchanges, including Binance and OKX, have listed it on their platforms, pushing its trading volume into the top 10 of the most traded assets during the past day.