Jupiter DEX and Former Malaysian Prime Minister’s X Accounts Hijacked to Promote Scam Memecoins

On February 5, 2025, two notable entities—Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Jupiter and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad—had their X accounts compromised by hackers. The attackers used these accounts to promote fraudulent memecoins, leading to substantial market disruption.

Jupiter’s official X account sounded the alarm after it was hijacked by scammers. The DEX aggregator warned its followers not to click on any links or purchase tokens mentioned in the compromised posts. The team quickly reassured the community, stating that they were working on regaining control of the account.

Jupiter’s co-founder, Siong Ong, confirmed the hack but assured users that other systems used by the exchange, such as its multisignature security feature, were unaffected. The multisig system, which requires multiple approvals to execute transactions, remained secure, protecting the exchange’s operations.

Despite the hack, the attackers were able to promote a fraudulent memecoin under the ticker MEOW. The scam coin reportedly saw a brief surge in market cap, reaching $30 million in mere seconds before the posts were deleted and the coin was "rugged." According to GeckoTerminal, the MEOW coin—which was only four hours old—spiked to an $8 million market cap before losing more than 98% of its value, crashing to just $88,000.

Crypto venture capital firm GM Capital’s pseudonymous founder, Beanie, speculated that “traders lost millions instantly on this Jupiter account hack,” highlighting how quickly the scam unfolded, resulting in significant losses for unsuspecting users.

In a related incident, Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, fell victim to a similar attack. Scammers hijacked his X account to promote a sham token with the ticker MALAYSIA. According to SlowMist founder Yu Xian, the coin saw its market cap spike to $3.4 million before quickly plummeting to $153,000, as recorded by GeckoTerminal. This attack follows a similar trend where well-known figures are targeted for pump-and-dump schemes.

This latest incident is part of a broader pattern of high-profile account hacks in the cryptocurrency space. Notably, in January 2025, TV star Dean Norris, best known for his role as Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, also had his X account hijacked for the second time to promote a fraudulent memecoin. In addition, several accounts impersonating official institutions like the U.S. Treasury, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and BlackRock have been used to issue fake tokens on the XRPL blockchain, further complicating the landscape for cryptocurrency users.

As the incidents unfold, the cryptocurrency community continues to grapple with the risks of account hijacking and scam-related activity, underscoring the need for enhanced security measures and vigilance among users and platforms alike.