Near Protocol's official Twitter account, known as X, recently stirred intrigue among its nearly two million followers with a series of cryptic tweets urging them to "reclaim your sovereignty" and other enigmatic directives. The unusual activity began on May 8 at around 6:18 pm UTC when Near Protocol's X account posted a 27-second Morse ode video with no accompanying context. Cointelegraph decoded the message, revealing the ominous phrase, "Darkness is coming."

Just two hours after this cryptic video was shared, Near's X account unleashed a sequence of four consecutive tweets featuring a difficult-to-read gothic font commonly associated with heavy metal bands. These tweets conveyed cryptic messages such as "the sun rises in the east," "take back your thoughts," "darkness," and "reclaim your sovereignty." Additionally, Near's account name and description underwent changes to align with the gothic theme of the tweets.

Despite the flurry of attention and speculation surrounding these tweets, Near Protocol did not respond to inquiries from Cointelegraph, leaving the motive behind the cryptic messages shrouded in mystery. The crypto community on X and blockchain investigators raised concerns about a potential hijack of the account, although no official confirmation has been provided as of writing.

Nevertheless, some supporters of the protocol interpreted the tweets as a precursor to significant developments within the ecosystem. This incident bears similarities to previous social media account compromises in the crypto space, such as the hijacking of CoinGecko's X account in January, which was used to perpetrate a phishing scam before the company regained control.

In a related context, Near Foundation, the entity responsible for developing the Near layer-1 protocol, announced a significant workforce reduction, laying off 40% of its staff. This decision involved the departure of 35 employees from marketing, business development, and community teams, reflecting a strategic restructuring aimed at enhancing operational efficiency.

The layoffs followed a comprehensive review of the foundation's operations, which identified inefficiencies and prompted a pivot towards a more streamlined approach aligned with the goal of achieving true decentralization within the Near ecosystem in the long term. Despite the immediate impact on affected employees, the foundation pledged to support them in transitioning to new opportunities within the NEAR ecosystem and the broader Web3 industry.