Unknown hacker hijacks Circle executive’s Twitter account to push a scam

The Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire warned the community about the hack of the Twitter account of the company’s chief strategy officer Dante Disparte.

@ddisparte Twitter account was hacked. https://t.co/pItTHAG9Al

— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) March 22, 2023

“Disparte’s account was hacked,” Allaire wrote.

An unknown actor gained access to the executive’s profile and posted about a ‘one-time airdrop bonus’ for USDC holders. The company allegedly sought to smooth over the reaction to the depegging of the stablecoin from the US dollar.

Circle representatives confirmed that the executive’s profile was compromised and any links in the post are scams. The company said it would take appropriate measures.

This Twitter account (@ddisparte) has been taken over by a scammer. Any links to offers are scams. We are investigating the situation and taking action accordingly.

— Circle (@circle) March 22, 2023

As of writing, the account remained suspended. According to The Block, the thread contained a URL not belonging to the company.

On 11 March, USDC lost its peg to the US dollar after Circle said it held $3.3 billion in reserves in custody of SVB authorities.

The company promised to cover ‘any shortfall’ in the collateral backing the stablecoin. However, the asset fully regained parity with the dollar only after U.S. regulators announced the rescue of SVB depositors.

Within five days after the depeg, Circle redeemed about 6.2 billion USDC and issued about 1.66 billion USDC, reducing the asset’s supply by 4.5 billion coins.

Moody’s found that the incident erodes trust in stablecoins and leads to tighter regulation.

In December 2022, unknown hackers hacked the Twitter account of Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary to promote a Bitcoin giveaway scam.

Earlier in 2023, attackers gained control of the Robinhood Twitter profile to promote the fraudulent RBH token on BNB Chain.