Hackers briefly took control of the official Pokémon account on X to promote a fraudulent memecoin, $POKEMON, presenting it as part of the franchise’s 30th-anniversary celebrations. The incident matters because the account has around eight million followers, giving the scam immediate global reach and potential credibility despite Pokémon not being involved in the cryptocurrency.

The takeover lasted about 30 minutes, and more than $3 million in transactions occurred after the token was listed, although its market value fluctuated sharply and was later around $355,000. Pokémon subsequently confirmed in a deleted post that its account had been compromised and said it would investigate; the episode follows similar recent attacks on entertainment accounts used to promote crypto schemes.