Hacker Heist: How a Meme Coin Didn’t Stand a Chance Against Phantom’s Flaw

by

In the quiet clamor of a digital world not so far from our own, the crypto wallet known as Phantom found itself perched precariously on the edge of calamity. A lawsuit, daring and bold as a farmer after a hard rain, set forth on April 14 in New York, brought forth by attorney Thomas Liam Murphy and a well-organized band of 13 disgruntled souls. They accused Phantom of negligence, fraud, and other such mischief, all under the dim light of a security flaw that had become an open barn door for the unwelcome. 🐕💰

This tale took a darker turn when a hacker, no doubt fueled by ambition and perhaps a touch of malice, slipped past the barriers of Phantom’s browser extension memory to extract Murphy’s private key. Like a thief in the night, he drained three wallets of their riches, unfazed by the supposed fortress of two-factor authentication. With a flick of his wrist and the elegance of a seasoned grifter, the attacker employed Phantom’s own “Swapper” feature—a fitting name for a villain—to convert the stolen Wiener Doge tokens into Solana (SOL) using a clever contract from OKX.

And what became of the Wiener Doge, you ask? Once a gleeful pup wagging its tail with a valuation over $1 million, now it languishes in the shadows, worth less than a whimper, less than one cent per token—the cruel irony of a meme gone wrong. 🎭

As the plaintiffs piled on their grievances, they alleged that Phantom had grown fat on billions of swaps, collecting shiny fees while leaving their users dancing on the edge of a knife. In their view, the wallet had morphed into something far more sinister, resembling an unregistered trading platform than the humble abode it once claimed to be. But the tale doesn’t end there—OKX, the unwitting accomplice, found itself dragged into the fray, named as a co-defendant for allowing this circus to unfold. 🎪

As of the last word, Phantom remained silent, perhaps shuffling its feet in the face of the growing storm. In this young landscape of web3 madness, the lawsuit whispers of critical faults in the marketing, regulation, and security of these cryptocurrency wallets, once heralded as the future of finance. 🧐

Meanwhile, the world watched with bated breath. In the past year, Phantom rose like a phoenix amongst its kin, drawing in over 15 million active users and facilitating an astonishing $20 billion in token swaps in 2024 alone. Not to be overlooked, Phantom even pulled in a hefty $150 million in a Series C round, boasting a glorious valuation of $3 billion in January. They had also welcomed networks like Sui (SUI) and Base to their fold, perhaps hoping more friends would lead to less trouble. 🤔

Read More

2025-04-15 09:32