Metallica’s Twitter Hack: A Heavy Metal Crypto Scam

Late Tuesday night, the Twitter account of iconic heavy metal band Metallica fell victim to a hack, used to promote a Solana meme coin—highlighting an ongoing wave of celebrity-targeted crypto scams.

In this brief but impactful episode, the hackers orchestrated a Twitter Spaces audio call and interacted with users, pushing the dubious METAL token. Although these posts were swiftly deleted within 90 minutes, the scam attracted over $10 million in trading volume before the token’s value plummeted.

The scammers ambitiously claimed that the METAL token was launched in collaboration with renowned entities such as Ticketmaster and the crypto payments platform MoonPay, suggesting that the token could fetch discounts on tickets and merchandise. Such bold assertions come amidst a backdrop where similar tactics were employed against other celebrities, including rapper 50 Cent and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan earlier this month.

Crypto Twitter was quick to dismiss the authenticity of the tweets, suspecting a scam. MoonPay’s President, Keith Grossman, was among the first to clarify that METAL was not supported by their platform, countering the claims made by the hackers. In a clever retort, MoonPay cautioned against the scam, invoking Metallica’s famous track: “not the master of puppets, they’re the master of scams.”

During its transient surge, the METAL token experienced a trading frenzy, recording over 30,000 transactions and seeing its price soar to $0.003, only to crash to below $0.00007. Currently, the token’s market cap is a mere $65,000, reflecting its rapid descent.

The incident not only sparked an investigative flurry but also a wave of Metallica-themed humor on Twitter. Notably, LimeWire, a name synonymous with the early 2000s music piracy issues that once enraged Metallica, cheekily commented on the situation, alluding to the band’s drummer Lars Ulrich.

The revamped LimeWire, now positioning itself as a generative AI platform for artists, humorously engaged in the discourse, underscoring the complex interplay between old grievances and new technological fronts.

This latest scam underscores the volatile nexus of celebrity influence and cryptocurrency, particularly as the lines blur with recent legitimate token launches by celebrities like singer Jason Derulo and his JASON token, amidst a landscape littered with both genuine and questionable crypto ventures.