NBA Instagram Hack Pushes Fake Meme Coin on pump.fun
By Alphacino Editorial Team ·
Quick Take
Hackers hijacked the NBA's Instagram to shill a fake "NBA Coin" on pump.fun — and it's the second time the league's socials have been used this way.
The NBA just got played again. The league's official Instagram account was reportedly compromised on October 15 and used to promote a token called NBA Coin (NBA) — a fresh launch on pump.fun that never had anything to do with the league.
The post did real numbers before it was pulled, racking up roughly 3,592 likes and 500 comments. The token itself barely got off the ground: by evening its market cap sat around $3,500. That's the tell. When a legit brand with tens of millions of followers "launches" a coin and it can't clear a few thousand dollars, nobody serious is buying the story — just the unlucky few who aped in on the first candle.
This isn't new territory for the NBA either. Back in March 2025, hackers used the league's X account to push a different "NBA Coin" on Solana. Same playbook, different platform. Hijacked blue-check accounts are one of the oldest tricks in the meme coin scam book: grab a trusted handle, launch a token on a permissionless launchpad, post the contract address, and dump on the wave of buyers before the account owner notices.
The lesson for Solana degens is simple. A big-name account posting a contract address is not alpha — it's a red flag. Real brand launches come with press releases, verified announcements across multiple channels, and usually a lot more fanfare than a single deleted post. Check the deployer wallet, check whether the official website mentions it, and check whether the holder list is concentrated in a handful of fresh wallets. If the only proof is one social post, assume compromise until proven otherwise.
As with all meme coins, exercise caution — these assets carry significant risk.
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