Sydney Sweeney, the American actress known for her roles in “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus,” recently found her X (formerly Twitter) account hacked. The hackers used her account to promote a cryptocurrency token named SWEENEY, leading to a significant pump-and-dump scheme.

The Hack and Promotion

On July 2, Sweeney’s X account was compromised. The hackers posted several promotional messages about a new Solana-based token, SWEENEY, which quickly garnered attention. Within two hours, the token saw a trading volume surge to over $10 million.

One of the now-deleted posts from Sweeney’s account read, “Well I think it’s time… sweeney is now live 100mc incoming.” Although these posts have since been removed, the impact was substantial.

The price of SWEENEY soared initially but plummeted nearly 90% within an hour of its peak at 6:15 pm UTC. The token’s market cap dropped from a high of $3.85 million to $1.2 million. Despite a partial recovery, the damage was done.

Hacker’s Claim

The administrator of a Telegram channel linked to SWEENEY’s promotion took credit for the hack. They also claimed responsibility for similar recent hacks on rapper 50 Cent and ex-wrestler Hulk Hogan’s accounts. According to the hacker, these breaches were also used to promote fraudulent tokens. They hinted at targeting an even more popular celebrity soon.

This is not the first time Sweeney’s X account has been hacked. In January, her account was used to promote another Solana token called MILK, which currently has a market cap of $1 million.

Celebrity Crypto Promotions

The incident with Sweeney’s account is part of a broader trend of celebrities being involved in crypto promotions. Caitlyn Jenner and rapper Iggy Azalea have also backed Solana-based memecoins. Azalea’s MOTHER token performed exceptionally well, reaching a peak market cap of $148.9 million before losing nearly $100 million in value.

Other celebrities, including rapper Rich the Kid, Nigerian singer David Adedeji Adeleke Oon, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr., have had their X accounts used to promote various crypto tokens.

The hacking of Sydney Sweeney’s X account highlights the ongoing issues of security and fraud in the cryptocurrency space. As more celebrities get involved, either willingly or through hacks, the need for vigilance and better security measures becomes increasingly crucial.