Arbitrum DAO warns users after official X governance account is compromised

Arbitrum DAO has issued a security alert stating its official governance account on X has been compromised. Users are advised not to click or interact with any links or content posted by the account. 

The team has assured users that it is actively working to restore the account. Meanwhile, the Arbitrum protocol and funds remain secure, with the incident affecting only the social media account.

Hackers announce a fake airdrop

Hackers started by promoting a narrative around potential usage-based rewards and airdrops, framing past activity such as bridging, swapping, liquidity provision, and governance participation as qualifying behavior. 

The posts emphasized “real users,” snapshots, and weighted allocations. They appeared designed to create anticipation and credibility during the breach.

“If you were consistently active, this is the moment you were playing for. Arbitrum isn’t rewarding wallets — it’s rewarding behavior. And if this follows the pattern of previous major airdrops, allocations won’t be flat,” the scammers wrote.

The compromised account then posted a fake “Arbitrum snapshot confirmed” airdrop. Hackers have created an image banner and a link to gov-arbitrum.com, a non-official site that features a suspicious “Connect Wallet” prompt designed to steal credentials.

This mirrors the 2023 Arbitrum airdrop phishing waves. However, the attacks three years ago succeeded because there was a real and widely publicized airdrop event that scammers could piggyback on. They created fake claim sites and spam accounts that tricked users into authorizing wallet access. 

The attack resulted in actual financial losses for users who clicked phishing links. This compromise is still in the early stages with no reported losses. Users have shown mixed reactions, with some grateful for the quick alert while others blamed the platform for the attacks.

This compromise follows an attack on Arbitrum’s projects. As reported by Cryptopolitan, two Arbitrum projects launched by the same deployer suffered unauthorized withdrawals for an estimated $1.5M. The attacker gained admin access and replaced smart contracts with malicious versions. 

Besides Arbitrum, the official X account for CZ’s BNB Chain, with millions of followers, was compromised and used to post phishing links promoting a fake “BNB HODLer Airdrop. Users were tricked into potentially connecting their wallets to malicious sites before the team regained control and warned followers to avoid connecting wallets to unknown links.

Arbitrum’s native coin declines 19% as the users’ sentiment turns cold

Arbitrum’s native coin is down 1% in the 24 hours, extending to the week’s 19% decline. However, its network is still doing great, completing millions of transactions and keeping TVL at approximately $2.8 billion as of early 2026, according to one study. Other estimates suggest higher figures, such as $16 billion at its peak. 

However, ARB’s price is still tied to Ethereum’s performance, the evolution of the Layer-2 sector, and ongoing supply pressures from token unlocks.

Token unlocks have been a big problem. Every month, regular releases increase the supply equal to 1.5–2% of the circulating tokens. For example, in January 2026, 96 million ARB were worth approximately $19.6 million at the time of release. These unlocks, which will last until about March 2027, keep selling pressure high, which cancels out use gains.

Arbitrum is scheduled to take part in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on X on February 5. The event will feature members of the Arbitrum community team and provide an opportunity for users and observers to hear directly from ecosystem representatives about recent developments, current projects. This is an effort to change its users’ sentiments.

Meanwhile, ARB is trading at roughly $0.1358, a big drop from its March 2023 launch price of about $1.20 and its peak price of $2.39 soon after.

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