Major hacks struck the gaming world today, with e-sports channels and official company platforms used to promote a fake meme coin. The incident even compromised one of Valve’s YouTube channels.
Valve was a particular target for these breaches, with third-party fan channels falling victim to the hack. This attack helps highlight the omnipresent nature of crypto crime in 2025.
Crypto Hacks in Gaming
Crypto crime is at an advanced level right now, with a variety of hacks, scams, and frauds percolating through the system. Still, one recent security breach is particularly jarring.
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A few major YouTube gaming and e-sports channels, including the official DOTA 2 channel, were hacked to promote a fake meme coin:
It’s not clear how successful this hack was at getting gaming fans to purchase the scam token, but it’s still an unsettling incident for a variety of reasons.
Many of these fake videos were up for multiple hours before removal, and the hacks may have been related to a broader YouTube outage.
Special Focus on Valve
This coordinated hack targeted outlets all over the gaming scene, including channels for other Valve games and e-sports events. These channels include PGL, ESL, Esports World Cup, and Mobile Legends MPL Indonesia.
BLAST Counter-Strike is not directly affiliated with Valve, but it covers one of the firm’s most successful games. The hackers evidently had a particular focus on this developer, one of the largest companies in the gaming world.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time in recent weeks that Valve’s products have been vectors for crypto scams. Last month, the firm had to remove a malware game from Steam after it was used to enable $150,000 in thefts.
This malware made it through all the storefront’s community safeguards, causing a minor scandal. Now, a hack perpetrated against the gaming titan has further shaken this confidence, showing that any company can be vulnerable. So far, Valve has yet to release a public statement on the incident.
Luckily, gaming fans were quick to recognize and report this hack, minimizing the total damage. Still, there’s a lot to be worried about. Users should exercise caution in interacting with clickbait crypto advertisements, as they might be promoting fake tokens.
