BlockBeats report: On February 22, the open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw attracted attention due to a token-related incident. During a rebranding process, the project’s accounts were compromised, enabling scammers to launch a fake Solana-based token, CLAWD, whose market cap briefly surged to $16 million. It then plummeted over 90% after the founders denied any association.
OpenClaw was initiated by developer Peter Steinberger and originally named "Clawdbot." It later received a trademark warning due to its similarity to the name of Anthropic's model, Claude, and was briefly renamed "Moltbot" before ultimately being finalized as OpenClaw. During the transition period when the old GitHub and X accounts were released but the new accounts had not yet been fully set up, scammers registered the accounts and launched the CLAWD token, sparking speculative hype.
Steinberger later publicly stated that he would never issue a token and emphasized that any project claiming to do so in his name is a scam. Following the incident, the official OpenClaw Discord server has completely banned mentions of keywords such as "Bitcoin" and "crypto," even for neutral technical discussions. One user was removed for referencing Bitcoin block height as a benchmark.
Steinberger has now joined OpenAI to lead the personal agents division, while OpenClaw has transitioned to operate as an independent open-source foundation. Despite ongoing controversy, the project’s community continues to grow, but the official stance is clear: maintain distance from the crypto space.