X takes a harsh approach: if an account chats about cryptocurrency for the first time, it will “automatically lock” and request verification; the product lead blasted Google for tolerating phishing emails.

Crypto phishing scams are rampant, and X (formerly Twitter)’s official team has decided to take drastic action! Nikita Bier, the Head of Product at X, confirmed that the platform is about to roll out a strict new safeguard: if a user “for the first time” publishes content related to cryptocurrency in the history of their account, the system will automatically lock that account and force the user to verify their identity. The move is intended to prevent hackers from hijacking accounts to promote scam coins. Bier also harshly criticized Google for tolerating the widespread proliferation of phishing emails.
(Background: Musk X Money metal card revealed: 3% unlimited rebates, 6% annual interest rate, beta testing in April to enter the U.S. financial landscape)
(Additional context: Musk announced that X’s AI recommendation algorithm will undergo a major overhaul next week, and it will be open-sourced for outsiders to review)

On X, incidents where hackers steal high-attention accounts and疯狂 post fake token giveaways and scam meme coins are constantly popping up. To completely eliminate this pain point, X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier officially announced a “heavy-handed” new policy targeting cryptocurrency content.

Yeah we’re aware.

We are in the process of implementing auto-locking + verification if a user posts about cryptocurrency for the first time in the history of their account.

This should kill 99% of the incentive, especially since Google isn’t doing shit to stop the phishing…

— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) April 1, 2026

Users share a painful experience to draw the official’s tough stance

The incident began on April 1, when X user Benjamin White (@HelloBenWhite) posted a long-form article and a voice recording lasting up to 8 minutes, in which he detailed the painful experience of being targeted by a phishing attack (Phishing) that ultimately led to his account being hacked. In his post, he specifically tagged X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier, urging the platform to take this serious security vulnerability seriously.

In response to the user’s plea for help and the community’s long-standing dissatisfaction, Nikita Bier quickly posted a positive yet firm reply beneath the same post, and for the first time revealed the defensive mechanism X is deploying:

“Yes, we’re aware. We’re rolling out a new measure: If an account publishes, for the first time, a post about cryptocurrency (cryptocurrency) anywhere in its account history, the account will be automatically locked and verification will be required.”

Strongly condemning Google for doing nothing, enabling phishing emails

Hackers typically carry out their schemes by mass-sending phishing emails, posing as “your wallet has been hacked” or official warnings to trick victims into clicking malicious links and stealing community account permissions. Once they succeed, they will then use these accounts—unrelated to cryptocurrency but with a certain fan base—to rapidly promote fake cryptocurrency projects in order to reap huge profits.

In response, Nikita Bier was blunt in assigning part of the responsibility to the email service giant. In his reply, he launched a fierce critique:

“This new measure should wipe out 99% of the incentive for (account hijacking by hackers), especially because Google is doing absolutely nothing to stop these phishing emails.”

As X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier has repeatedly gone after issues with spam messages and scams on the platform over the past few months—for example, banning reward apps that spam posts (InfoFi), and rolling out Smart Cashtags to reduce confusion from token ticker symbols. Notably, Bier himself is also a consultant for Solana, and is quite familiar with the ecosystem in the crypto space.