Airbnb co-founder says his X account was hacked as he deletes comments about tokenization
MarketWatch previously reported comments about tokenization on a Brian Chesky social-media account that now appear to have resulted from a hack. By Jules Rimmer
Chesky: 'To the person who hacked my account this week: thanks for all the new crypto followers'
Comments attributed to Brian Chesky claimed the tokenization trend is only going to increase.
Brian Chesky is the co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb and one of the world's richest people. In a Tuesday posting on X, it appeared Chesky outlined his thoughts on the blockchain adoption of real-world assets.
However, after many online commentators criticized the posting's conclusions and accused him of posting "AI slop," Chesky took to X on Thursday to say his account had been hacked.
"To the person who hacked my account earlier this week: thanks for all the new crypto followers.
To my new crypto followers: I'm going to be a very disappointing follow."
Tokenization allows investors to own fractions of an asset, rather than the whole thing, and blockchain hosting - theoretically, at least - enables payment, settlement, change of ownership and custody on a digital ledger.
The comments posted on Chesky's account claimed that the tokens and the blockchain eliminate most of the "friction" from ownership and investment by making settlement immediate, fractional investments feasible and round-the-clock markets that are, crucially, decentralized. The analogy made was this: "The internet made information liquid. This makes ownership liquid."
The initial comments on the Chesky account were wrapped around video of an appearance by Robinhood (HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev on CNBC in which the brokerage executive discussed tokenization.
Unlike many social-media hacks, the comments posted to the Chesky account did not promote any particular service.
-Jules Rimmer
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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07-17-26 0753ET
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