ClawdBot Founder Warns Crypto Community After Fake Token Scams Surface Under Moltbot Brand
Peter Steinberger, the founder of ClawdBot—the open-source AI assistant that later rebranded to Moltbot—has issued a public warning after scammers launched a fake token using his project’s name. The move drew in traders and led to sharp losses as the impersonation spread across crypto communities.
Steinberger has been clear: he has never issued a token, has no plans to do so, and has no connection to any cryptocurrency claiming affiliation with his work. The fake token, named $CLAWD, briefly gained traction on Solana-based meme coin platforms, with an early market capitalization reported near $16 million.
The situation deteriorated quickly after Steinberger’s public denial. Reported market activity collapsed, with some accounts noting the token’s market cap slipping from about $8 million to under $800,000 once the denial went viral.
Steinberger’s warning came after days of outreach from crypto traders and promoters following the sudden emergence of meme coins branded around “ClawdBot.” In a post on X, he urged investors to stop contacting him and stressed that he would not take any fees or endorsements tied to crypto launches.
The warnings also targeted impersonation accounts that promoted a token called $CLAWD, which appeared on Solana-based meme coin platforms. Traders had seen some early gains as hype spread across social media, but many observers described the episode as another instance of speculative AI-related tokens tumbling once official statements were issued.
Some users accused the anonymous token deployers of ongoing rug-pulls, pointing to similar projects launched and abandoned under different names. The confusion was compounded by a branding transition underway at the time: ClawdBot was rebranding to Moltbot due to trademark issues. During the rename, account migrations went imperfectly, allowing third parties to squat on or assume control of related GitHub and X handles. Those compromised accounts were then used to impersonate the project and promote crypto tokens as if they were officially linked.
Steinberger said he is working with GitHub to recover the affected accounts and urged users to ignore any crypto-related claims tied to the project. Moltbot—formerly ClawdBot—gained attention earlier this month after a wave of interest among developers. The project remains an open-source, self-hosted AI assistant designed to run locally on a user’s machine and integrate with messaging platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, and Slack.