A few weeks ago, we all thought that NBA accounts across the internet were hacked. That was how shocking the Luka Doncic trade was. Well, today, that fear of ours became a reality when crypto scammers breached the security of the NBA’s official accounts.

It happened at around 2:45 PM ET on Tuesday, March 4. The NBA’s official X account announced that the league was launching a crypto coin called $NBA coin under Solana. There was an attached statement that called it “a groundbreaking digital asset designed to redefine fan engagement, transactions and experiences within the basketball ecosystem.” This fake message was broadcast to all the 48.1 million followers of the NBA on X.

The NBA later confirmed to FrontOfficeSports (FOS) that they were hacked. Daniel Roberts of FOS was one of the first ones to break the news.

But these scammers didn’t stop there; oh no!

Not only did they hack official NBA accounts for other countries like NBA Spain and the UK, but they also hacked NASCAR’s official X account! Of course, NASCAR was releasing the $NASCAR coin instead of the $NBA coin, according to the statement.

This attack comes only a few days after President Donald Trump announced the creation of a strategic crypto reserve for the United States. The POTUS wishes to help grow this $3 trillion market even further. This proposed reserve will include all the major cryptocurrencies, like XRP, Solana’s SOL, and ADA. President Trump vowed to make the US the “Crypto Capital of the World.”

There’s no confirmed link between Trump’s stance and the NBA hack. However, the incident does come amid a rise in crypto-related scams and security breaches. In 2024 alone, funds stolen in cryptocurrency heists nearly doubled year-over-year, rising from $857 million to $1.58 billion according to Chainalysis. Given this landscape, it’s not all that surprising high-profile organizations like the NBA are at heightened risk of becoming cyberattack targets.

Thankfully, the NBA and NASCAR managed to recover their accounts soon after the hack. Nevertheless, this will still leave Adam Silver and company red in the face as they scramble to get over the PR nightmare. Well, at least this time, this wasn’t their fault. Their last run-in with blockchain technology, however, was entirely on them. Yes, we’re talking about NBA Top Shot.

Reviewing Top Shot—the NBA’s first tryst with blockchain

Even as far back as 2017, the NBA was looking to develop some blockchain projects. Soon, they found someone willing to partner up with them. That was Dapper Labs, who’d just created CryptoKitties, one of the first NFT collectible games.

Later, in October 2020, Top Shot went public, allowing people to buy virtual NFT trading cards or “Moments” on the blockchain-based platform NBA’s Top Shot. And we’d be lying if we didn’t say it was an instant hit! On February 22, 2021, a clip of LeBron James dunking sold for a staggering $208,000. Want more proof of its success? A video of Goran Dragic sold for $30,000!

The game caught on like wildfire. Even the biggest haters of the game couldn’t help but try their luck in hopes of receiving their own NFTs. However, a lot of people saw this for what it was, a house of cards (pun intended), doomed to come crashing down. But for the first few months, revenue and the player base for Top Shot soared like an eagle in the sky.

However, soon, because of complaints around queue times owing to their mammoth player base, Top Shot released an influx of Moments into the market. This left a lot of users who paid a lot for their Moments feeling shortchanged. Wouldn’t you, if you bought something for $100, then watch as someone else buys it for $1?

Moreover, resellers had to wait for months to withdraw their money. And once users stop making a profit, their product is no longer of value.

Floor prices soon went on a downward spiral, and anyone in it for a quick buck left immediately. The bustling virtual marketplace shortly became no-man’s-land as Top Shot’s users left the platform. By April 2022, its sales dropped to $26 million compared to $82 million a year before! And its userbase, once 120,000 strong, dipped to around 37,000. Even NBA players stopped promoting the virtual NFT marketplace.

However, to this day, Top Shot’s diehards keep the community and the platform alive. Even though this was a hare-brained, ill-fated project, people still seem to enjoy it. So who knows? They may be onboard for $NBA Coin after all. If the league ever decide to make it a reality, that is.