Who
woulda
thunk
a
mostly
forgotten
1980s
TV
character
could
help
a
crypto
hackathon
attract
developers?
That
seems
to
be
the
gambit
of
NEAR
Protocol,
which
this
week
staged
a
very
weird
takeover
of
its
social
media
channels
by
a
purportedly
unknown
“hacker.”
The
fake
breach
started
with
mocking
tweets
and
crescendoed
with
a
masked
villain
disrupting
founder
Illia
Polosukhin
to
rip
on
the
crypto
“pipe
dream”
and
telling
viewers
“there’s
nothing
waiting
for
you
in
Thailand”
(where
NEAR’s
holding
its
hackathon
in
November).
Reverse
psychology
aside,
the
marketing
stunt
makes
callbacks
to
a
decades-old
character
of
early
digital
culture:
Max
Headroom.
He’s
the
purportedly
AI-generated
television
host
of
a
series
of
1980’s
TV
movie
and
subsequent
shows
that
aired
in
the
U.S.
and
the
U.K.,
and
also
the
chief
marketer
of
New
Coke
(a
famous
flop).
What
really
makes
Max
memorable
today,
and
notable
for
the
purposes
of
NEAR’s
rather
cringey
gambit,
is
the
broadcast
that
wasn’t
supposed
to
be:
the
Max
Headroom
incident.
In
1987,
an
unknown
signal
pirate
hijacked
a
“Dr.
Who”
broadcast
in
Chicago
and
went
on
a
90-second
nonsensical
ramble,
all
while
wearing
a
Max
Headroom
mask.
A
good
deal
matches
up
between
the
Max
Headroom
incident
(an
unsolved
crime
that
sparked
a
decades-long
federal
investigation)
and
NEAR’s
video
takeover.
Both
star
a
masked,
suited,
sunglass’d,
voice-altered
man
making
fun
of
his
viewers.
Of
course,
the
content
of
the
two
characters’
criticisms
differ.
Chicago’s
signal
pirate
dropped
blasts
of
gibberish
during
his
unsanctioned
broadcast,
occasionally
calling
out
people
as
“nerds.”
He
ended
his
broadcast
by
getting
his
bare
bottom
slapped
with
a
fly
swatter.
While
the
Max
Headroom
incident
was
a
genuine
hijacking
of
the
airwaves,
the
NEAR
takeover
is
a
marketing
stunt
admitted
to
by
the
company’s
own
spokespeople.
An
inauthentic
hack.
CoinDesk
learned
a
bit
of
this
NEAR-Max’s
lore:
his
name
is
“HiJack”
and
he’s
“the
antithesis
of
Web3
values
–
a
sleazy,
corporate,
desk-jockey
who
is
satisfied
with
the
current
state
of
the
world
(because
he
and
his
cronies
are
on
top).”
“His
aim
is
to
sow
dissent
and
doubt
(literally
FUD)
because
Web3,
and
particularly
the
intersection
of
AI
x
Web3
in
which
the
user
(us)
comes
first,
is
a
tangible
alternative
to
the
current
way
the
world,
digital
and
otherwise,
works”
a
representative
told
CoinDesk.
Compared
to
Max,
HiJack
displayed
a
serious
agenda.
For
nearly
a
minute
he
drop-kicked
crypto
fan
boys
including
those
following
NEAR,
telling
them
to
“get
a
real
job”
and
to
give
up
on
this
“web3
trash.”
“You’re
gonna
trust
Solana
or
Ethereum
over
household
names
like
Apple
and
Amazon,”
he
asked.
“Gimme
a
break,
dude!”
But
HiJack
has
a
point.
People
really
don’t
trust
any
crypto
network
over
Apple
and
Amazon.
Not
yet,
anyway.
The
number
of
people
who
actually
live
on
crypto
–
entirely
separate
from
the
traditional
financial
and
technological
system
–
is
vanishingly
small.
Is
it
too
early
for
crypto
to
make
fun
of
its
own
struggles
for
relevance?
NEAR
seems
to
at
least
think
it
can
help
drive
attendance
at
the
Thailand
hackathon,
called
REDACTED.
A
representative
declined
to
comment
for
this
story.
At
the
very
least,
the
fake
hack
caught
people’s
attention.
Emily
Lai,
an
executive
at
crypto
marketing
agency
Hype,
tweeted
the
gambit
increased
NEAR’s
mindshare
to
its
highest
levels
in
three
months.
But
the
sentiment
was
resoundingly
negative,
she
wrote,
expressing
doubt
it
would
actually
help
REDACTED.
NEAR’s
price
was
down
around
2%
over
the
past
24
hours
as
of
press
time.
Commenters
on
NEAR’s
social
channels
were
less
diplomatic.
Some
praised
the
creative
edge.
But
others
chastised
the
gimmick
for
its
potential
to
damage
NEAR’s
reputation
while
delivering
little
brand
upside.
Messari
pushed
a
real
warning
to
its
markets-intelligence
software
users
warning
them
that
NEAR
had
actually
suffered
a
hack.
“There
is
nothing
waiting
for
you
in
Thailand,”
wrote
one
commenter.
