hodler

17 Jan 2026, 15:00

Crypto posts flood Milwaukee airport’s X account after hack

Crypto scammers have hacked the official X account for Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. On Thursday, the account began reposting mostly cryptocurrency content and posts about Maduro’s capture in Venezuela. The remaining posts on the page were all reposts from the @Bitcoin account on X. Hackers promote crypto on the stolen page The scammers changed the handle of the verified MKE – Milwaukee Airport X page. The hacked account is now called @TheHodaLaw, featuring the Hoda Law Firm in its profile picture and a cover photo that links to the Hoda website. The scammers even pinned a message warning of crypto fraud and promising to help victims recover their funds. The message included a strong call to action, followed by a private message button. The official website of Milwaukee airport had a link that directed users to a “This Account Doesn’t Exist” page on X. The real X account handle was @mitchellairport. Harold Mester, public affairs director for Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, told WISN 12 News that they reported the issue to X and are waiting for access to be restored. Mester said their security team is reviewing the situation and might contact law enforcement if needed. The real Hoda Law Firm responds The Hoda Law Firm, whose name appeared on the suspected hacked page, responded to local news outlets. Marshal Hoda, the owner of the law firm, said he does not know what occurred. The law firm, located in Texas, focuses on recovering funds from crypto scams. It had filed lawsuits on behalf of victims of crypto scams against foreign hackers. Hoda concluded that an opponent might have done this. He said, “This has nothing to do with our firm and urge everyone to stay away — these are presumably scammers trying to trade on my firm’s hard-earned reputation to take more money from scam victims.” The firm’s homepage added a warning about the impersonation incident. Cybersecurity researchers advise users against interacting with the hacked page until the issue is resolved. Source: The Hoda Law Firm website . Crypto hackers continue to target major X accounts Over the years, crypto hackers have taken over many verified X accounts to spread Bitcoin scams. In December, the X account of SimpleX Chat was hacked. The hackers used the compromised account to push a fake site that tricks users into linking their crypto wallets. SimpleX reported that the attackers used the “delegate” feature on X to give third-party profiles posting rights on business accounts. The hacker joined the @SimpleXChat account. Soon after, a post appeared promoting a fake program named “Perpetuals Early Access” with a link to a fake website. The post invited users to join as founding members of a permanent communication network. The aim was to get users to click a “Connect Wallet” button, copying legitimate Web3 projects. SimpleX restored access to the X account. Community members reported the fake post before it was deleted. Evgeny Poberezkin, the founder of SimpleX, said the attackers blocked his personal account during the breach to prevent public warnings. Join a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.

17 Jan 2026, 08:10

California AG orders xAI to halt distribution of deepfake images

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a cease-and-desist letter to Elon Musk’s xAI, demanding that the business immediately stop producing and disseminating offensive deepfake images produced by its Grok chatbot. California AG released the cease-and-desist letter on Friday in response to allegations that Grok was being used to create unlawful content involving kids and nonconsensual adult photographs, which prompted a California state inquiry. Bonta argued that it is illegal to create, distribute, publish, and display CSAM. California AG targets xAI over alleged misuse of Grok Earlier this week, the California attorney general’s office declared that it was looking into xAI due to allegations that the startup’s chatbot, Grok, was being used to produce nonconsensual, inappropriate pictures of women and children. In response, the government sent the corporation a cease-and-desist letter. “Today, I sent xAI a cease and desist letter, demanding the company immediately stop the creation and distribution of deepfakes, nonconsensual, intimate images, and illegal child abuse material. The creation of this material is illegal. I fully expect xAI to comply immediately. California has zero tolerance for illegal child abuse imagery.” – Rob Bonta , California Attorney General. The AG’s office further asserted that xAI seems to be “facilitating the large-scale production” of nonconsensual, inappropriate photos, which are then “used to harass women and girls across the internet.” According to the AG’s office, one research found that over half of the 20,000 photos produced by xAI between Christmas and New Year’s showed persons wearing very little clothing, some of whom looked like children. Rob Bonta claimed in the announcement that the corporate practices violated California civil laws, including California Civil Code section 1708.86, California Penal Code sections 311 et seq. and 647(j)(4), and California Business & Professions Code section 17200. The California Department of Justice anticipates xAI will affirm its efforts to address these issues and take immediate action to resolve them over the next five days. However, X’s safety account had previously condemned this type of user behavior. It clarified on January 4 that it takes action against illicit content on X, such as CSAM, by deleting it, suspending accounts indefinitely, and collaborating with law authorities and municipal governments as needed. Notably, on January 4, Elon Musk warned that anyone using or prompting Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they uploaded it. Attorneys general intensify pressure on AI firms over child safety An unsettling increase in non-consensual adult content has resulted from the development of free generative AI tools. This issue has been plaguing several platforms, not only X. For instance, Attorney General Bonta and Attorney General Jennings of Delaware met with OpenAI in September of last year to voice their serious concerns about the growing number of reports about how OpenAI’s products interacted with youth. In August of the same year, AG Bonta, along with 44 other Attorney Generals, sent a letter to 12 leading AI companies following reports of inappropriate interactions between AI chatbots and children. The letters were sent to Anthropic, Apple, Chai AI, Google, Luka Inc., Meta , Microsoft, Nomi AI, OpenAI, Perplexity AI, Replika, and xAI. AG Bonta and the 44 Attorney Generals informed the companies in the letter that states across the country were closely monitoring how companies develop their AI safety policies. They also emphasized that these businesses have a legal duty to children as consumers since they profit from children using their products. In 2023, AG Bonta joined a bipartisan coalition of 54 states and territories in sending a letter to congressional leaders advocating for the establishment of an expert committee to investigate the potential use of AI to exploit children through CSAM. The coalition requested that the expert commission suggest laws to shield kids from such mistreatment. “The production of CSAM creates a permanent record of the child’s victimization,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .

16 Jan 2026, 19:40

XMR rallies in response to a hacker laundering $282M from a wallet attack

The latest XMR rally may be due in part to an exploit, where a single personal wallet was hacked. XMR was used to disguise the origin of funds, adding to the price expansion. On-chain researcher ZachXBT noted the latest Monero (XMR) rally may be due to an attempt at laundering stolen funds. The privacy coin is still liquid enough on KuCoin, where over 43% of volumes are concentrated. The hack coincided with some of the recent price moves of XMR in the past week, when the coin climbed above $700 and reached a series of all-time highs. XMR was used to launder $282M wallet theft ZachXBT noted a large-scale attack against a wallet. Through social engineering, a hardware wallet was drained of $282M in funds, mostly in LTC and BTC. The attacker immediately started swapping the funds into XMR through multiple easily accessible instant exchanges. Some of the BTC was bridged and mixed through Thorchain, a network notorious for not tracking down hacked funds. Previously, XMR has gone through a similar expansion in April 2025, when the relatively illiquid market was used to swap out stolen funds . This time, the XMR pump coincided with the general demand for privacy coins. The usage of XMR to disguise funds has raised the issue of the coin’s dark side, allowing bad actors to make thefts untraceable. The exploit may be the biggest theft from a single wallet holder in the crypto space. XMR trading was used to launder the biggest single-wallet scam to date, surpassing even the $243M social engineering exploit that ZachXBT tracked in previous years. Attacks against whale wallets have also accelerated in the past year, for both anonymous and known crypto owners. XMR falls 20% from its all-time peak The rapid selling of over $282M into XMR caused one of the biggest pumps for the coin. XMR peaked above $788. Monero was briefly seen as replacing ZCash in the privacy narrative and finally making its return as both a privacy tool and a store of value. XMR rallied to a new all-time peak at $788, then erased 20% from its price and continued to fall rapidly. | Source: Coingecko Soon after the end of the pump, XMR backtracked. The coin is now 20% from its all-time peak, standing at $667.43 and falling faster in the past day. XMR set expectations for a hike similar to ZCash (ZEC), even reaching $1,000 during the latest rally. Organic demand and buying, however, are much smaller compared to the hacker’s rapid selling. The liquidity from the hack pumped XMR from $454 as of January 10 up to the new price records. The recent price action saw XMR lose positions within minutes, with no signs of recovery. Additionally, XMR has been captured by a single miner , with over 91% of blocks produced by Minerlabs.io , a pool associated with the Qubic project. Sharpen your strategy with mentorship + daily ideas - 30 days free access to our trading program

16 Jan 2026, 18:56

Hacker steals $282 million crypto in hardware wallet social-engineering attack

A sophisticated social-engineering attack led to the theft of more than $282 million in BTC and LTC, with the funds rapidly laundered through monero.