Next to the protocol ‘darkness’ and ‘sovereignty’ X posts raise the suspicion of hacking
A number of tweets came out of the protocol's official X handle, asking its nearly two million followers to “reclaim your sovereignty,” among other odd instructions.
On May 8, around 6:18 PM UTC, the Protocol X account posted a 27-second Morse Odd video without providing any context. Cointelegraph described the message as “darkness is coming.”
Two hours after the cryptic message was tweeted, Near's X account posted a series of four tweets using the Gothic font widely used by heavy metal bands. The messages read, “The Sun Rises in the East,” “Reclaim Your Thoughts,” “Darkness,” and “Reclaim Your Sovereignty.”
Additionally, the close tag name and description have also been changed in line with the Gothic theme of the tweets. The screenshot below shows the X tag near the protocol and related tweets.
Near Protocol did not respond to Cointelegraph's comment.
The crypto community on X and blockchain investigators suspect it may be a hack. However, till the time of writing this report, no confirmed confirmation has been received.
However, few supporters of the protocol see the tweets as a sign of big things to come for the ecosystem.
In January, crypto data aggregator CoinGecko's X account was compromised and used to run a phishing scam. The company was able to take control of the social media account following a quick intervention.
Related: Nearby promotes multi-chain transactions from a single account
Along similar timelines, the Narr Foundation, developer of the defamation Layer-1 protocol, laid off 40% of its staff to “focus the core foundation team on a narrow, high-impact set of activities.”
The decision includes the layoff of 35 immediate staff in the marketing, business development and community groups. The company said at the time:
“The NEAR Foundation will provide support during this time to help affected colleagues find new opportunities in the NEAR ecosystem, the Web3 industry and beyond.”
The sacking came after the foundation found weaknesses in its operations. As the ecosystem moves forward towards true decentralization in the coming years, the deal plans to further reduce its footprint.
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