Traders lost $807K after piling into $SLINK token following a fake Elon Musk endorsement via hacked Shivon Zilis account; token crashed 97% from $80M to $2M market cap.
Ecosystem ·
A Solana-based token experienced a severe crash after Elon Musk replied to a post from a hacked account belonging to Shivon Zilis, which had promoted the SLINK token. The apparent endorsement drew multiple traders into the asset, with four individuals accumulating approximately $807,000 in combined losses—@Aurelius0121 down $230,300, @jelitics down $165,600, @MomentumKevin down $68,600, and @USronaldcarter down $342,700.
The token's market capitalization initially climbed to around $80 million before collapsing to approximately $2 million, representing a decline exceeding 97 percent from its peak. The sharp reversal suggests the endorsement was leveraged to artificially inflate demand before a potential exit or dump by early holders or insiders.
It remains unclear whether Musk's account was also compromised, what prompted the initial hacking of Zilis's account, or whether exchanges have taken steps to trace the stolen funds or prevent similar exploits going forward.