Crypto scammers took over OpenAI’s press account to post phishing links that targeted OpenAI users.

While the posts have now been deleted, crypto scammers managed to hijack OpenAI’s official press account on X on Sept. 23 to promote a suspected phishing link. The ChatGPT developer has yet to acknowledge the breach.

Those behind the hack promoted a token called “OPENAI,” claiming it would bridge the gap between blockchain and AI. 

The posts falsely promised that users could claim a portion of the token’s supply, allowing them access to the platform’s future beta programs and enticing them to click a phishing link that led to a flagged website.

To lend an air of legitimacy and prevent eagle-eyed users from warning others about the hack, the attackers disabled comments on the malicious posts, adding the message: “Comments turned off due to malicious links. Good luck all!”

One user on X claimed the fake website was designed to mimic the OpenAI branding and looked legitimate at first glance. However, when clicking the OpenAI logo, a prompt would ask visitors to connect their wallets.

When users connect their wallets to a malicious platform like this, they are tricked into signing a fraudulent transaction. This transaction often appears legitimate but actually grants the attacker control over the user’s assets, enabling them to drain all funds stored in the compromised wallet.

Called ‘approval phishing,’ these attacks have led to over $2.7 billion in losses since 2021, according to Chainalysis.

Unfortunately, similar attacks have targeted OpenAI execs on multiple occasions. 

Most recently, OpenAI researcher Jason Wei’s account was hacked to promote the same phishing scheme, with the attackers previously targeting OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Jakub Pachocki. Last year, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati also faced a similar breach in June 2023.

As reported by crypto.news, virtual reality-focused project Decentraland also suffered the same fate last week, with scammers promoting a fake airdrop of its native token to mislead users into connecting their wallets and approving a malicious transaction.

While all the aforementioned attacks share similarities, it is unknown if the same group of attackers is behind them.

Donald Trump-themed cryptocurrencies surged as World Liberty Financial announced a new governance token.

Fight to MAGA (FIGHT) led the charge with a massive surge of over 150%, pushing its valuation to $10.3 million. TrumpCoin (DJT) also saw a strong rally, climbing 28% to reach $0.00032, its highest since Aug. 7, with daily trading volumes near $1 million. Meanwhile, MAGA (MAGA) rose by 18% over the past day, with a daily trading volume of $11.48 million.

All these gains helped push the total market cap of political-themed tokens past $481 million. Meanwhile, the community sentiment around the tokens had also turned bullish according to Coinmarketcap data.

These tokens rallied after Donald Trump’s crypto initiative, World Liberty Financial, announced its plans to release a governance token named WLFI.

WLFI has been advertised as a non-transferable governance token, allowing holders to propose and vote on platform-related matters. Approximately 63% of the total token supply is designated for public sale, with 17% for user rewards, and the remaining 20% for the team and advisors.

While the token’s launch date remains undisclosed, the project team has confirmed that sales will be limited to accredited investors.

Despite the rise on Sept. 17, political-themed tokens have been experiencing a downturn, with their total market cap now down to $481 million.

These tokens tend to gain prominence during election seasons, potentially losing much of their relevance after the elections conclude. Traders often refer to these as “event coins” because their prices are influenced as the date of the related event approaches.

However, in the short term, these coins could see further gains if Bitcoin (BTC) breaks past its previous high, as meme coins often thrive during Bitcoin’s bull runs. Factors that could drive Bitcoin’s price higher include possible cuts in Federal Reserve rates, a weakening US dollar, and a continuing stock market rally.

Just one day after surviving a second assassination attempt, Donald Trump today launched his long-rumored crypto project, World Liberty Financial. Though much about the project remains unclear, the team behind World Liberty Financial unveiled previously unconfirmed details during a live interview with Rug Radio, Decrypt’s sister company.

The project will offer borrowing and lending services for cryptocurrencies on the Ethereum blockchain network, not unlike the vast array of existing applications in DeFi—a catch-all term that describes cryptocurrency products that provide financial services without the need for intermediaries such as banks.

Trump’s crypto project promises to be more “user friendly” and accessible than existing, highly technical alternatives, and will be underpinned by a non-transferable (meaning, not tradable) World Liberty Financial (WLFI) governance token.

The World Liberty Financial crypto team, helmed by operations lead Zak Folkman and data and strategy head Chase Herro, today released new details regarding the WLFI token distribution plan, and made clear that the token’s sale will be regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“There have been no pre-sales and no VC, early buy-ins,” Folkman said during today’s interview. “It is just like any other DeFi project you can expect to see that’s launching now with incredibly fair token distribution,” he said.

The majority of the token’s supply—62.66%—will be distributed in a forthcoming token sale, with a portion of net proceeds from that sale going to the project’s multi-signature wallet treasury reserve, according to an excerpt of World Liberty’s white paper reviewed by Decrypt. A remainder of net proceeds from the sale will be paid to the project’s founders, team, and service providers. 

Approximately 17.33% of WLFI’s supply will be earmarked for incentivizing the expansion of participation in the governance of World Liberty, along with other community growth initiatives, according to the excerpt of the white paper.

The remaining 20% of the token supply will go to the project’s team, advisors, and future hires, with undisclosed portions of WLFI earmarked for the WLF Foundation, affiliates of the Trump Organization, and the Witkoff Group, which is run by longtime Trump ally and friend Steve Witkoff—a participant in World Liberty. 

CoinDesk previously reported that World Liberty insiders would receive 70% of WLFI’s token supply—a move that would have run counter to industry norms.

A source familiar with the matter described previous reports about World Liberty Financial as “inaccurate” but would not elaborate. Decrypt viewed excerpts of what is presumably an updated draft of the white paper that contains language similar to that in previous reports, but with substantially different token allocations. 

The team behind the project also revealed Monday that the sale of WLFI will be regulated by the SEC, addressing at least one element of the questions surrounding Trump’s choice to launch a DeFi project during a period of profound regulatory uncertainty for the novel sector.

All purchasers of WLFI will be screened using the same “know your customer” (KYC) standards relied upon by American crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken. While an excerpt of World Liberty’s white paper reviewed by Decrypt emphasized that WLFI tokens are not intended to be deemed securities, the tokens will be offered via Rule 506(c) of the SEC’s Regulation D— meaning they will be sold as unregistered securities under an SEC exemption that allows for such products to be offered in the United States to accredited investors.

The SEC defines accredited investors as financially sophisticated individuals who have either earned $200,000 in one of the last two years, earned $300,000 collectively with their spouse or spousal equivalent in the last two years, have a net worth of $1 million or more with or without a spouse, or are a broker or financial professional. 

A source familiar with the matter, however, said the finer details of the project are still subject to change.

Edited by Guillermo Jimenez and Andrew Hayward