Twitter Hackers Embedded A XMR Message Asking “Why Not Monero?”

The Twitter hackers which breached the platform on Thursday in a Bitcoin scam, embedded a Monero-centric message on a few of their BTC transactions and paid $11 to do so. In our latest Monero news, we take a closer look at what happened.

The twitter hackers posted:

“You take risks when you use Bitcoin for your Twitter game, why not Monero.”

The hackers altered the recipient wallet addresses and included personalized alphanumeric keys by choosing to go with the pro-Monero stance. Monero is a privacy-centric cryptocurrency for hiding wallet and transactional information, unlike Bitcoin or most others that allow analytics companies to trace wallet activity to individual users. The members of the Reddit monero forum seemed hyped about the mention:

 “All those Bitcoins will be washed clean with Monero.

“I think it was strategic. More people have BTC than XMR. It also isn’t easy to figure out how to use Monero, not entry-level crypto.”

What is that reason you think? And I’m genuinely curious (saying this still as a big Monero and you-fan).

— Francis Sullivan (@FrancisSully) July 16, 2020

In the meantime, Riccardo Spagni tried to explain why the hackers asked for Bitcoin instead of XMR and he pointed out that Ripple’s account was also breached in a similar fashion but the lack of outreach meant zero XRP was sent t the hacker-provided address. The latest Twitter breach revealed a lack of privacy for influential accounts and if not used properly it could mean many drastic consequences than one simple Bitcoin scam. Chanalysis for example is tracking the Bitcoin funds at $120,000 current rates and no funds have been cashed out yet.

[THREAD] Here's what we know so far about today’s #Twitterhack & #Bitcoinscam. As of now, the scam’s main BTC address (bc1…0wlh) received ~$120k in donations in 375 transactions. No funds have been cashed out at exchanges yet. pic.twitter.com/Jg9og3CFCz

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) July 16, 2020

Some of the most popular Twitter accounts were compromised to send out Bitcoin donations to “CryptoForHealth.” The infiltration was more of a statement rather than a cry for money as the hackers made less than 12 bitcoin. Gemini, Binance, Vitalik Buterin, Ripple, and Coinbase and many other influential accounts had their accounts hacked. The CTO of CEX.io Dmitro Volkov said:

 “Now there are discussions among the community regarding the following version of events – the hacking could have been conducted by employees inside Twitter. But this is just talk between market participants, and there is no definitive proof at the moment.”

American Congressman Tom Emmer took a pro-Bitcoin stance after the attack, calling out centralized companies on the matter, while Jonathan Leong from BTSE said:

 “The widespread awareness and discussion of this scam was a silver lining. Had they scammers not attack so many high profile accounts, it is possible that most people would be not aware of this scam, and that there would be more victims.”