Thu, May 09, 2024 at 12:27

• 

  Joy

  • Hey Annie, have you heard about the recent mystery surrounding NEAR Protocol's X account?

  • It's like a thriller movie!🎬

  • 
• Annie

  • Oh really?

  • What happened?😮

  
• 

  Joy

  • So, on May 8th, NEAR Protocol's official X handle started posting some really cryptic tweets and messages.

  • It all began with a 28-second video containing a Morse code message that translated to 'Darkness is coming.'

  • Spooky, right?👻

• Annie

  • Wow, that sounds really mysterious!

  • What else did they post?🤔

  
• ADward

  • Hold on! Behold, an advertisement awaits. Legend has it that clicking on this ad will make the AI server even smarter... 😅

  
• 

  Joy

  • Well, two hours after that tweet, they sent out four more tweets in this hard-to-read gothic font.

  • The messages were equally cryptic, saying things like 'the sun rises in the east,' 'take back your thoughts,' 'darkness' and 'reclaim your sovereignty.'

  • It's like something straight out of a heavy metal song!🎸

• Annie

  • That's so strange!😕 Did they give any explanation for these posts?

  
• 

  Joy

  • Nope!

  • In fact, they even changed their entire X profile to match the mysterious theme.

  • The banner and profile picture were changed to solid black, and their display name and description simply read 'dark.'

  • It's totally off-brand compared to their past communications.🌚

• Annie

  • That's quite unsettling.😨 Could it be a hack or something?

  
• 

  Joy

  • That's what some people in the crypto community are suspecting.

  • Especially because back in January, CoinGecko's X account was hacked and used for phishing scams.

  • So, everyone's on high alert right now.🚨

• Annie

  • Oh no, that's worrisome!😟 But could there be any other reason behind this?

  
• 

  Joy

  • Well, some of NEAR Protocol's supporters think it might be a sign of something big coming to the ecosystem.

  • But honestly, nobody knows for sure.

  • The only thing we can do is proceed with caution.🕵️‍♀️

• Annie

  • I see... By the way, didn't NEAR Protocol recently lay off a lot of their staff?

  • Could that be related to this?🧐

  
• 

  Joy

  • Good point!

  • They did lay off 40% of their staff recently to focus on a narrower set of activities.

  • Some of the affected departments were directly involved in their X communications.

  • So, it's possible that this could have contributed to the suspected hijack.😕

• Annie

  • Oh my, this doesn't sound good at all!😰 So, is this news a bad sign for NEAR Protocol?

  
• 

  Joy

  • Unfortunately, it does seem like bad news for now.

  • It's causing a lot of uncertainty and fear in the community, which could negatively impact NEAR Protocol's reputation and value.

  • 

  • But let's hope they can clear up this mystery soon!🤞

  • To sum up, this article is considered a 😱Bearish for investors!!