Wormhole Woes: Token Plunges 26% Amid Airdrop Frenzy and Phishing Scams

Amidst the cryptocurrency market downturn, the Wormhole token plummeted by about 26% from its peak. This decline followed the much-anticipated airdrop event, which distributed 617.3 million W tokens to over 400,000 wallets.

Consequently, this marked a crucial phase for the Wormhole initiative, aimed at rewarding early adopters and contributors within Solana and Ethereum ecosystems.

How Scammers Are Taking Advantage of Wormhole Airdrop?

The Wormhole token launch was designed, aiming to decentralize the protocol’s stakeholders. It introduced a supply of 10 billion tokens, with 1.8 billion initially available as Solana Program Library (SPL) tokens on Solana.

Following the airdrop, top crypto exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Kraken listed the W token. Subsequently, trading volume soared, exceeding $1.6 billion, in the past 24 hours. This reflects the strong market interest in trading the newly-listed tokens.

However, the initial surge to $1.86 was quickly overshadowed by a downturn as the market contended with rising phishing scams targeting the token’s newfound popularity.

Read more: Best Upcoming Airdrops in 2024

For instance, the on-chain sleuth – ZachXBT issued alerts on social media platforms, warning of the scams surrounding the Wormhole airdrop. They emphasized the urgency of the situation, noting the sophisticated nature of these phishing schemes aiming to exploit the airdrop event.

“Be careful there are tons of accounts with gold checkmarks in the replies posting phishing scams,” ZachXBT said.

The increase in phishing scams related to the Wormhole token reflects a broader issue within the cryptocurrency space. Indeed, crypto scammers have stolen over $64 million through phishing attacks in just the first quarter of 2024.

Read more: Who Is ZachXBT, the Crypto Sleuth Exposing Scams?

These incidents highlight the critical need for enhanced cybersecurity measures and vigilance among investors. It serves as a reminder of the ongoing threats and the importance of robust security measures in protecting digital assets.