Quick Breakdown
- Users reported fake ERC-20 transfers within 48 hours of Monad’s mainnet debut.
- The team confirmed no exploit occurred, calling it a common EVM spoofing tactic.
- High traffic from airdrop claims and new dApps made them easy targets for scammers.
Early spoofing reports hit Monad’s first week
Monad’s highly anticipated mainnet launch has been met with early turbulence as users reported spoofed ERC-20 token transfers circulating across the network. The first wave of alerts surfaced on Tuesday, November 25, barely a day after the chain went live.
warning – there are fake ERC-20 transfers pretending to be from my wallethttps://t.co/TCZTfDfoTQ
example:https://t.co/wA1I8RFTdQ
you can see the txs are not sent by me
ERC-20 is just a token interface standard, it’s easy to write a smart contract that meets that standard…
— James (mainnet arc) (@_jhunsaker) November 25, 2025
Co-founder and CTO James Hunsaker took to X to warn the community that scammers were broadcasting fake token transfers that falsely appeared to originate from his own wallet.
Scammers deploy fake logs to mislead users
These spoofed transactions didn’t move funds or interact with real balances. Instead, they exploited the ERC-20 interface, which allows malicious actors to deploy contracts that emit misleading transfer logs.
According to Hunsaker, the aim is pure social engineering: scammers use fake activity to trick users into visiting phishing pages, clicking “claim” prompts, or approving malicious contracts. Such tactics are frequently used on newly launched EVM-compatible networks, where user activity spikes quickly.
The topic briefly trended under “#MonadScam” before the situation cooled. Monad reassured users that no exploit had occurred and that no funds had been lost.
Airdrop frenzy creates attractive attack surface
The chaos comes amid intense network activity. Over 76,000 wallets claimed 3.33 billion MON worth around $105 million at the time of the project’s opening airdrop. That rush, combined with rapid dApp deployment, created fertile ground for opportunistic scammers.
Monad’s launch has been one of the busiest of the year, backed by major investors including Paradigm, Electric Capital, and OKX Ventures. The chain’s testnet recorded over 2.6 billion transactions, 300 million wallets, and 41 million blocks before its mainnet debut.
Team urges caution as activity grows
With usage accelerating, Monad is advising users to rely only on verified explorers, avoid urgency-driven prompts, and double-check contract interactions. Community members have praised the team’s fast response and clarity, noting that wallet balances were never affected despite the spoofed logs.
Meanwhile, Monad acquired Portal Labs, a stablecoin wallet infrastructure startup. The acquisition grants Monad direct access to Portal’s payment rails and stablecoin settlement systems, reinforcing its plans to make payments a central use case for blockchain.
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