An X account impersonating Hong Kong’s Chief Govt, John Lee Ka-chiu, launched a pretend nationwide cryptocurrency on Solana’s token launchpad Pump.enjoyable. The account promoted the token to its hundreds of followers, seemingly aiming to capitalize on the latest Political memecoin frenzy.
Hong Kong Gov’t Denies Nationwide Cryptocurrency
On Thursday, an X account underneath the username “JohnLeeKa_Chiu” introduced the “Nationwide Hong Kong Coin” (HKONG). Within the now-deleted submit, the Chief Govt’s impersonator stated that the “strategic step” marked a “new period in digital innovation and financial development for Hong Kong.”
A number of hours later, the account said that the token would formally launch at 2:00 pm Hong Kong time, but it surely was postponed to five:00 pm. Forward of the launch, the impersonator interacted with a number of X accounts, replying to US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The account additionally replied to Barstool Sports activities founder Dave Portnoy’s heated change with American actor Nick Cannon, who just lately launched a Solana memecoin. Within the submit, the impersonator thanked Portnoy for allegedly serving to the Hong Kong authorities “with launch of Hong Kong nationwide crypto forex.”
John Lee Ka-chiu impersonator replies to Dave Portnoy. Supply: Blake Allen on X
Some crypto buyers mentioned whether or not the Chief Govt had been hacked and if the announcement was a rip-off, because the X account displayed a grey verification mark, which signifies an account represents a authorities or multilateral group.
Nonetheless, John Lee Ka-chiu’s official Fb web page denied the hyperlinks to the X account and defined the federal government was not launching a cryptocurrency. “Members of the general public shouldn’t mistakenly consider the pretend data claiming that the Chief Govt has introduced the launch of the Nationwide Hong Kong Coin,” the submit learn.
He clarified that somebody was pretending to be him to defraud unsuspected buyers, warning them to “watch out in looking for proof and verifying the authenticity of the data to forestall them from being cheated.”
Is The Political Memecoin Celebration Over?
On X, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area, Johnny Ng, echoed the identical warning:
To be completely clear – the federal government has confirmed that is fully pretend and designed to rip-off individuals. Please watch out on the market and don’t fall for this trick!
This incident raised issues about X’s account verification and safety, because it follows an extended checklist of hacked X accounts used to advertise crypto scams. One person identified that the impersonator possible hacked the account of Indian officers and adjusted the username, identify, and biography to conduct the scheme.
Notably, the account beforehand posted footage of the Prime Minister of India and reposted a number of posts from varied Indian officers. Furthermore, it deleted all posts associated to the Nationwide Hong Kong cryptocurrency and adjusted its username to “moftransilvania,” suggesting that the hackers stay in command of the account.
Some customers additionally identified that the rip-off didn’t achieve momentum because the hacker didn’t launch and submit the token’s contract handle (CA) rapidly, which allowed buyers to see the varied crimson flags. In consequence, the HKONG token solely hit a market capitalization of $200,000 earlier than collapsing.
Others highlighted that the launch of political or Politician-related memecoins has already executed “sufficient injury” to the crypto business, noting the Central African Republic (CAR) “experiment,” and the Argentina-linked Libra token (LIBRA) crash.
As reported by Bitcoinist, the Democratic Celebration of The US Home of Representatives has proposed the Fashionable Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act, aiming to ban federal officers from selling varied monetary property or collaborating in conducts that would financially profit them from these property.
This transfer follows the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins by the US Presidential Household, which has raised issues concerning the dangers of Politician-issued tokens.
Solana (SOL) trades at $147.53 within the one-week chart. Supply: SOLUSDT on TradingView
Featured Picture from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
