NEAR Protocol’s X account hacked, here’s what we know so far

NEAR Protocol’s X account with over 1.9 million followers has been posting encrypted messages over the past few hours, sending a dark vibe through the community.

The first encrypted message on NEAR Protocol’s X page was posted at 18:18 UTC on May 8. The message which looks similar to Morse code says “Darkness is coming” when decoded. 

Source: MorseCode.World

Despite the dark vibe of the message, the marketing and events lead at NEAR Foundation, Yadira Blocker, replied to the encrypted audio with “Something is cooking.”

In another X post, Blocker said that “alpha is coming.”

Moreover, NEAR Protocol’s X account shared a few posts in Zalgo text — a glitch-styled text created in 2004 usually used to show hacker activity and breaches. The last four X posts by the official NEAR Protocol page say: 

The sun rises in the east. Take back your thoughts. Darkness. Reclaim your sovereignty.

While some X users believe the NEAR Protocol X account could have been breached, the company hasn’t shared any notices or warnings. NEAR Foundation also didn’t share anything regarding the encrypted messages.

Last month, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland’s X account was hacked to promote a crypto scam token called SPIDER. On March 20, hackers breached Trezor’s X account and pushed a phony Solana-based cryptocurrency called TRZR.