Crypto wallet Phantom crashes big time! During the token airdrop, the price went haywire, triggering a wave of user claims for compensation

Phantom Wallet experienced a malfunction during the airdrop period, causing incorrect price and balance displays. Although the assets were safe, it triggered trading losses and a trust crisis.

A sudden malfunction during the airdrop period caused abnormal price and balance displays

Phantom, a popular wallet in the Solana ecosystem, suffered an unexpected service interruption late Monday, resulting in abnormal token price and account balance displays within the platform. The malfunction occurred during a widely anticipated airdrop campaign, and a surge in transaction demand quickly escalated the issue.

The official said the abnormality mainly affected frontend data updates, preventing users from viewing correct asset figures in real time, and even leading to display cases such as a sharp price drop or assets appearing to be zero. Although Phantom emphasized that “user asset security was not affected,” the incorrect information had already materially interfered with market behavior.

Users couldn’t trade, leading to losses; the community demands full compensation

During the outage, multiple users reported they were unable to sell tokens smoothly, missing chances from price fluctuations and even seeing book losses. Some users on social platforms said they lost about $450 within just 1.5 hours—roughly NT$14k—sparking panic that spread.

Image source: X/@LetitBurn79 Some users on social platforms said they lost about $450 within just 1.5 hours

As more cases of returns emerged, some users have publicly called on Phantom to provide a compensation mechanism, arguing that the platform failed to operate steadily during a high-volatility period, which has already affected trading decisions.

The incident also sparked market discussion about whether “frontend display errors should be held responsible,” especially in DeFi and self-custody wallet scenarios, where users typically have to bear operational risks themselves; the boundaries of responsibility still remain a gray area.

Security concerns rise as phishing attacks appear

During the service interruption, blockchain security firm PeckShield warned that malicious actors may take advantage of the chaotic conditions to launch phishing attacks, tricking users into clicking malicious websites or signing suspicious transactions.

Image source: X/@PeckShieldAlert Blockchain security firm PeckShield warned that malicious actors may take advantage of the chaotic conditions to launch phishing attacks, tricking users into clicking malicious websites or signing suspicious transactions

Previous research has pointed out that the Phantom wallet has a “address poisoning” risk: attackers confuse users’ addresses by sending forged transactions, further inducing users to mistakenly transfer assets. This incident once again amplified related security concerns.

Experts remind users that when abnormalities occur at the application layer, they should verify the asset status through an on-chain explorer and avoid relying solely on wallet display information for operations.

The technical issue has been fixed, but the trust crisis remains to be seen

Phantom later announced within a few hours that the issue had been fixed and advised users who still encounter abnormalities to contact customer support. The official has not disclosed the specific cause yet, but the industry generally believes this incident may have stemmed from data aggregation or API update delays, rather than a malfunction of the blockchain itself.

In fact, Phantom has previously experienced similar balance display delay issues, showing that even in scenarios involving high-frequency trading and large-scale simultaneous user activity, the frontend infrastructure still has pressure-point bottlenecks.

This incident highlights that although self-custody wallets emphasize asset sovereignty, in terms of user experience and system stability, they still face challenges similar to those of centralized exchanges. How to strike a balance between decentralization and reliability has become an important next step issue for the industry.

This article is generated by the Crypto Agent compiling information from multiple parties, and is reviewed and edited by 《Crypto City》. It is still in training, and there may be logical deviations or information errors. The content is for reference only and should not be considered investment advice.