Cryptocurrency portfolio tracker Blockfolio has apologized after messages containing racist slurs were sent to users following an apparent hack.
News website The Block reported that a message shared to users via the app's integrated communication system, Signal, read: 'Hello, we are sad to announce we closure of our services to all black people and n****** with immediate loss of all funds.'
'We advise all users to do a prompt withdraw to prevent loss of funds. Thank you.'
Screenshots of a separate message shared on Twitter showed the above text, as well as a link reading 'nakemanpictur' and the words: 'BEST CHILD PORN IS AVAILABLE HERE.'
The offensive posts were attributed to Jason Hamlin, who provides ecosystem insights at Blockfolio. Hamlin has retweeted messages of Blockfolioapologizing to users and posted a statement explaining that his account was hacked.
Maybe this has been asked before. I set up a connection of my Blockfolio app to my coinbase account which works fine for the stuff that is still at the account. I have also transfered things to cold storage via coinbase. I would like to see the amount of that BTC in cold storage in Blockfolio as well. Cryptocurrency portfolio tracking mobile application Blockfolio came to life back in 2014, when a group of Dash coin early investors joined forces to create a service that would give them the ability to keep track of their holdings.
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Hamlin wrote: 'It looks like a Blockfolio marketing account was hacked and someone posted disgusting and offensive things under my name. This obviously was not me nor anyone at Blockfolio and does not impact security of funds in any way. The team is working diligently to correct the matter.'
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Blockfolio appeared to be down after the offensive posts. When Newsweek tried to access the app on an iPhone at about 4:15 a.m. ET, it repeatedly crashed and showed an error message. Later the app would not open at all and was stuck on a screen showing its logo. Google searches for 'Is Blockfolio down?' and 'Blockfolio not working' spiked around this time, according to Google Trends.
Some Twitter users speculated that the company's servers were down. Newsweek has contacted Blockfolio and its owner FTX for comment.
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Blockfolio tweeted: 'We are incredibly sorry about the offensive messages posted on Blockfolio today.'
It later issued a statement once again apologising and reiterating that 'no funds/etc. were affected; this did not interact with any trading features.'
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The company said: 'We have revoked access to the compromised Signal submitter and removed the messages.'
Blockfolio co-founder Edward Moncada tweeted: 'A Blockfolio marketing account was compromised this evening. We've disabled the account to investigate. Some token tracking listings & Blockfolio signal comms were impacted. All Blockfolio user data is safe as well as user trading accounts & funds (handled separately by FTX).'
A Twitter user asked Moncada whether 'an apology to all customers, especially your Black customers' would be made. He replied: 'Yes, of course we want to extremely apologize for the racist slurs that came from the compromised account. They in no way reflect the views of our company.'
Users of the app with trading enabled were credited $10 free, the company said. This offer would be extended to 'anyone else who signs up this week' with a cap at 1 million people.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, tweeted: 'If any user was personally impacted by push notifications from the app, they will of course be included as well.'
Bankman-Fried said: 'Over the next month I'll be leading a security review of the old, non-trading-related parts of Blockfolio to bring them in line with the standards set by trading, and by FTX more generally.'
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