Airbnb CEO: Hacker Used My X Account to Push Tokenization

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said his X account was hacked earlier this week and used to promote real-world asset tokenization. The hacker posted a thread on the account, writing they had been "quietly keeping an eye on real-world asset tokenization for a while now." The post said much of it was "noise" but that "something real" was happening underneath.

Chesky responded Thursday with a post thanking the hacker for the new followers. "To the person who hacked my account earlier this week: thanks for all the new crypto followers," he wrote. "To my new crypto followers: I'm going to be a very disappointing follow."

Before the hack, Chesky had never posted about tokenization on X. He had few posts about cryptocurrency at all. Fortune reported the hack. Benzinga said it contacted Airbnb to verify the account's security and whether Chesky had posted the latest update.

High-profile X account hacks are common in crypto. Last year, hackers hijacked the official SpaceXAI and Starlink accounts to promote a memecoin called SCATMAN, then executed a rug pull. Investor Ross Gerber's account was also compromised in 2025 to promote a coin tied to Tesla.

Airbnb shares closed Thursday at $147.80, down 0.39%. They were 0.26% lower in pre-market trading Friday. The stock carries an AlphaScore of 46 from AlphaScala, labeled Mixed, in the Consumer Discretionary sector.