KEY POINTS
- Branstetter revealed Monday his Phantom wallet was hacked after what appeared to be a ‘fake’ interview
- The $UFD creator’s 6.6 million tokens worth $1.2 million were wiped, including some $SOL
- Key crypto figures rallied behind Branstetter after learning about the hack through posts from Dusters
The cryptocurrency community is rallying behind Ronald “Ron” Branstetter, a gold and silver YouTuber who created the Unicorn Fart Dust (UFD) meme coin that easily smashed the $100 million market cap-line not even a month since its launch.
Now, six weeks after UFD bred what is dubbed the most “organic” and wholesome community in the crypto space, Branstetter’s Phantom wallet was hacked, resulting in the 6.6 million UFD coins worth $1.2 million.
“Dusters,” UFD holders who have been spreading good cheer and colorful dust in the space since the meme token’s launch in December, stood behind Branstetter after the UFD creator tearfully talked about the hack Monday.
‘Nothing Has Changed About Unicorn Fart Dust’
Branstetter revealed the news to shocked Dusters, who expressed sadness for what the crypto newbie experienced. Despite feeling emotional at times during his announcement, Branstetter maintained his composure, assuring the community that “nothing has changed about Unicorn Fart Dust.”
Branstetter, who goes by Ron’s Basement on social media, was a gold and silver YouTuber before he first entered the crypto space in December.
His sponsors dropped his channel after learning of his venture into the crypto realm, but soon enough, he received sponsorship support from leading crypto transfers fintech firm MoonPay.
The UFD community also grew significantly and often led $UFD to trend on X in the last six weeks. Just a day before Branstetter’s wallet was hacked, crypto exchange Bitget listed the UFD meme coin.
Midway through his announcement about his wallet’s exploit, Branstetter finally broke down, saying he still believes in the community’s tagline, “good attracts good.”
“Somebody stealing my tokens doesn’t stop the unicorn,” he said in between tears.
Later in the day, Branstetter provided the community with an update, revealing how he was supposedly approached for an interview that “something didn’t quite feel right” with the interview. He said it appears he had been “tricked” into the interview as he was sent a Zoom link. The interview did push through but it still “felt off from the beginning” as he was walked into a “screen share” during the Zoom interview.
Following the interview, Branstetter said he started seeing messages on X about a “whale” selling UFD. He also addressed callouts on social media over his supposed “negligence,” saying he has learned his lesson and is cooperating with advisors regarding security.
Crypto Community Stands With Ron
While there were a few crypto users who doubted Branstetter’s account of the hack, majority of the community still believed he was a victim of an exploit – something that’s very common in the crypto space.
Software engineer Gianina Skarlett, the founder and CEO of W3 Learn Academy and CTW, along with several other prominent figures in the crypto space, created a multisig wallet for Branstetter where crypto holders can donate tokens for the YouTuber.
On a conference call with @gianinaskarlett and a few others. We are currently swapping all donations into $UFD. Donations are coming into a secure Squads multisig wallet. It takes 3 out of 4 of us to approve any transaction. We are almost at 2 million UFD now. 4.6m to go.
— Cal (@nftpho) January 27, 2025
Keith Grossman, the President of Enterprise at MoonPay, reiterated the company’s support for Branstetter following the incident. “We have all been in this situation before. Do not fret,” he wrote in an open letter to the UFD creator.
MoonPay also created a separate wallet with $10,000 to help Branstetter “rebuild.”
The OTC Network Co-founder Erick sent $50,000 in UFD to the multisig wallet, and several other Dusters followed suit.
Many other well-followed figures in the crypto space expressed support for Branstetter and the work he has done in bringing in positive vibes to a blockchain segment that has not seen as much unity and genuine optimism in months, including popular social media personality Bryce Hall, Davie Satoshi, and David Gokshtein, a key figure in the space.
Ron curated the COMMUNITY he has by simply being a good human.
That is why, within a matter of 12 hours, they could raise back a good portion of what was lost in the hack for @BasementRon
Ron and $UFD is good for SOLANA.
— Jakey (@SolJakey) January 28, 2025
Some researchers pointed out that with Branstetter being a Boomer who has only been in the space for six weeks, it was somehow doubtful he could pull-off a sophisticated “rug.”
Investigating the $UFD Hack and it seems @BasementRon is telling the truth. Hacker wallet: CStKKgdy1YvfUHkqXsd9poTtWSPHkDYe9QckRtNQc1bP operates with sophistication, creating multiple wallets and wrapping tokens using Jupiter and using a wormhole token bridge to hide their txns. pic.twitter.com/M132ZD3Wch
— Crypto Watchtower (@Watchtower_WTW) January 28, 2025
UFD prices crashed after news of the hack spread across social media, but on Tuesday morning, the token slightly recovered and was up nearly 6% in the day.
A certain phrase has been trending overnight within the UFD Duster community: “BullRon is coming,” which is a twist to the crypto space’s “bull run next” term when they are expecting the crypto market to see an uptick as driven by bull optimism and activity.
