Crypto wallet Phantom crashes! During the token airdrop, prices got mixed up, sparking a wave of users seeking compensation claims

Phantom wallet experienced a malfunction during the airdrop period, causing incorrect price and balance display. Although the assets were safe, it led to trading losses and a trust crisis.

Sudden malfunction during the airdrop period: abnormal price and balance display

Popular Solana ecosystem wallet Phantom suffered an unexpected service interruption late Monday, causing abnormal display of token prices and account balances within the platform. The malfunction occurred during a widely watched airdrop campaign, and the surge in transaction demand quickly expanded the scope of the problem.

The official statement said the abnormality mainly affected frontend data updates, preventing users from viewing the correct asset values in real time, and even resulting in displays such as a sharp price drop or assets shown as drop to zero. Although Phantom emphasized that “user asset safety was not affected,” the incorrect information materially interfered with market behavior.

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

During the malfunction period, multiple users reported that they couldn’t successfully sell their tokens, missing opportunities from price fluctuations, and even seeing unrealized losses on their books. Some users said on social platforms that within just 1.5 hours they lost about $450, roughly NT$14k, triggering widespread panic.

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

As more case reports of missed returns emerged, some users have publicly demanded that Phantom provide a compensation mechanism, arguing that the platform failed to operate stably during high-volatility periods, which already impacted 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 need to bear operational risk themselves, leaving responsibility boundaries in a gray area.

Security concerns heat up, phishing attacks appear

During the service interruption, blockchain security firm PeckShield warned that bad actors could potentially exploit the chaotic state to launch phishing attacks, tricking users into clicking malicious websites or signing suspicious transactions.

Image source: X/@PeckShieldAlert Blockchain security firm PeckShield warned that bad actors could potentially exploit the chaotic state to launch phishing attacks, tricking users into clicking malicious websites or signing suspicious transactions

Past research has already pointed out that the Phantom wallet carries an “address contamination” risk: attackers confuse users’ addresses by sending forged transactions, further inducing users to send assets to the wrong address. This incident once again magnified related security concerns.

Experts remind users that when anomalies occur at the application layer, they should verify their asset status through an on-chain explorer, instead of relying only on wallet display information.

Technical issues have 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 experienced abnormalities to contact customer support. The official has not disclosed the specific cause, but the industry generally believes this incident may have stemmed from data aggregation or delayed API updates, rather than a malfunction of the blockchain itself.

In fact, Phantom has also previously experienced similar balance display delays, showing that even in scenarios involving high-frequency trading and simultaneous action by large numbers of users, the frontend infrastructure still has bottlenecks.

This incident highlights that although self-custody wallets emphasize asset ownership, 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 issue for the industry’s next steps.

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