The NBA's official Instagram account was hacked this morning and used to promote a suspicious Solana token called NBA Coin. According to multiple reports, the post promoted a Solana token with a contract address, but was subsequently deleted and the account returned to normal posting. The post reportedly included the token's contract address and carried language that made the promotion appear connected to the basketball community, with the caption reading "where basketball passion meets blockchain innovation! Join the community and explore $NBA today. BUY NOW." This incident adds to a series of reported 2026 takeovers that have turned brand and executive accounts into meme coin promotions, with the crypto community becoming accustomed to such social media attacks and the related information not triggering significant buying.
The deleted post pitched the token as an official league product and carried a contract address for a token launched on Solana. The token was reportedly created on Pump.fun and had a market capitalization of approximately $3,500 on October 14th, showing the limited impact of such promotions. The hackers chose to rug the token at a market cap of about $40,000, demonstrating the short-term pump path relying on official account endorsement is under pressure. The crypto community quickly identified the suspicious information and did not form sustained buying, with funds quickly exiting after being exposed from the NBA's official account. NBA public relations confirmed the breach to Front Office Sports and stated "there is no NBA Coin on Solana coming," with the NBA declining to provide further comments. The token, created on Wednesday, had a market cap of about $3,500 as of Wednesday evening, showing the limited impact of such promotions.
If confirmed, this would be the second time hackers used the league's social media to push a token called NBA Coin. In March 2025, the NBA's official X account and other regional accounts were hacked to promote a fake NBA Coin, which the league's PR confirmed and stated that such a token would not exist on Solana. The 2025 post disappeared about 5 minutes later, and NASCAR's X account was compromised in a similar scheme the same day. This Instagram incident follows the same pattern of using high-profile accounts to release token information, but with the community quickly identifying and rejecting the promotion.
Corporate accounts have faced similar compromises throughout 2026. Earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed unauthorized access to its X account, which had followed and reposted a profile impersonating Clippy, the retired Office assistant. In August, The Pokémon Company's X account was compromised and used to promote a cryptocurrency. Hackers have also targeted executives and public figures, including Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev's X account in July, Senator Cynthia Lummis' account days later, and Kylie Jenner's X account in August. The problem has also extended to prominent NBA figures, with Jaylen Brown's X account hacked in September 2024 and Giannis Antetokounmpo's Twitter feed compromised in May 2020, where his family confirmed hackers accessed his Twitter, phone, email, and bank accounts. Despite greater awareness of cryptocurrency fraud, memecoin scams continue to be a major problem in 2026, with scammers exploiting social media hype, celebrity endorsements, compromised accounts, and investors' FOMO.
