After NASCAR, NBA falls prey to massive cryptocurrency scam pushing fake coins

The NBA is facing a bit of a P.R. crisis right now. Per Front Office Sports, the league has confirmed that there was a breach in the security of the league's official accounts.

Around 2:45 PM (ET) on Tuesday, March 4, the league's official X account announced that the NBA was launching a crypto coin called $NBA. It would reportedly run in the Solana blockchain.

The post included a statement that called this coin:

“a groundbreaking digital asset designed to redefine fan engagement, transactions and experiences within the basketball ecosystem.”

Notably, the NBA wasn't the only major sports organization to fall prey to these cyber scammers. They also reportedly hacked the league's Spain and UK accounts and even NASCAR's official X account, stating that they were releasing as $NASCAR coin.

The timing of these events doesn't seem to be casual, either. It happened just a couple of days after POTUS Donald Trump announced the creation of a crypto reserve for the country.

It will reportedly include some of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including the likes of XRP, ADA, and, of course, Solana's SOL. Trump's announcement drew plenty of attention, as he said he aims to make America the "crypto capital of the world."

Fortunately, both the NBA and NASCAR managed to get their accounts back shortly after the breach. However, the damage was already done, with the message reaching more than 50 million people.

At the time of writing, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hasn't released a statement discussing the situation.

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Pro athletes have faced backlash over their ties to cryptocurrency

This isn't the first time that ill-intended people either hacked or reached out to professional athletes to promote shady cryptocurrency platforms, scams, or coins.

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady faced some serious backlash over his ties to the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and his founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX also got soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, MLB star Shohei Ohtani, David Ortiz, Naomi Osaka, Trevor Lawrence, Udonis Haslem, and Stephen Curry, among others, to promote the platform, which was eventually shut down in 2022.