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BNB Chain says former employee launched ASTEROID from company-linked wallet, pursues legal action

BNB Chain says former employee launched ASTEROID from company-linked wallet, pursues legal action

The network said the ex-employee kept unauthorized seed phrase access to an address first used for the TST tutorial token, then issued the unapproved meme coin on Aug. 1, 2026.

BNB

Fact Check
The official BNB Chain X post (@BNBCHAIN, dated 2026-08-01) directly confirms every element of the claim: a wallet was first created by a former employee for a video tutorial (the TST tutorial token), the individual retained unauthorized access to the seed phrase, the same address was later used independently for a new meme token, BNB Chain disavows any authorization or involvement, and BNB Chain is pursuing legal action while cooperating with authorities. Independent outlets (BlockBeats, PANews, CryptoBriefing) corroborate these facts and cite the same official statement, with BlockBeats specifying TST as the tutorial token.
Summary

BNB Chain said a former employee used lingering access to the seed phrase of a company-linked tutorial wallet to launch the unapproved meme coin ASTEROID on Aug. 1, 2026, after earlier using the same address in 2025 for the TST video-tutorial token. The network said ASTEROID briefly reached a market capitalization of $10 million within its first four hours and drew thousands of holders, but stressed that it "did not participate in the creation of this token" and has "no control over the token or wallet address." BNB Chain said it is pursuing legal action and cooperating with relevant public authorities. On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain separately said four wallets linked to the ex-employee bought about 80% of ASTEROID's supply for around $10,000 and later sold for about $638,000, though those wallet links and the profit estimate have not been independently verified.

Terms & Concepts
  • seed phrase: A sequence of recovery words that can restore access to a crypto wallet and the private keys derived from it.
  • meme coin: A token whose trading activity is driven largely by online attention and speculation rather than established utility.
  • market capitalization: The total notional value of a token's circulating supply, typically calculated from its market price.