---
title: "Chaos erupts after Anthropic forces Clawdbot rebrand"
id: "3602"
type: "post"
slug: "clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark"
published_at: "2026-01-28T13:00:00+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-10-28T00:19:28+00:00"
url: "https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark/"
markdown_url: "https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark.md"
excerpt: "The viral AI assistant is now Moltbot — but not before crypto scammers hijacked its old accounts."
taxonomy_category:
  - "News"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "anthropic"
  - "automation"
  - "clawdbot"
  - "crypto"
---

# Chaos erupts after Anthropic forces Clawdbot rebrand

The viral AI assistant is now Moltbot — but not before crypto scammers hijacked its old accounts.

![Illustration of a giant orange lobster confronting hooded crypto scammers with Bitcoin coins flying](https://mediacopilot.ai/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/moltbot-vs-scammers-400x225.png)

Moltbot fends off crypto scammers who hijacked the project's old accounts within seconds of the rebrand. (Credit: ChatGPT)

Jan 28, 2026

By       [The Copilot](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/thecopilot/)

Peter Steinberger’s viral AI assistant Clawdbot is now called Moltbot after Anthropic issued a trademark request Monday morning. The name “Clawd” was too similar to “Claude,” the AI model that powers many Clawdbot installations.

### Key Takeaways

- Anthropic forced viral Clawdbot to rebrand to Moltbot over the Claude trademark.
- Crypto scammers grabbed @clawdbot in 10 seconds and pumped $CLAWD to $16M.
- Shows how brittle creator-account identity is during forced AI rebrands.

[Are you an AI Agent? Read more here >](https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark.md)

“Anthropic asked us to change our name (trademark stuff), and honestly? ‘Molt’ fits perfectly — it’s what lobsters do to grow,” Steinberger wrote on X.

The rebrand execution went sideways fast. During a 10-second window while renaming the project’s X and GitHub accounts, crypto scammers grabbed the abandoned handles. The old @clawdbot accounts now pump token scams to followers who don’t know about the switch.

A fake $CLAWD token hit $16 million market cap before [Steinberger publicly denounced it](https://x.com/steipete/status/2016072109601001611?s=20)
: “I will never do a coin. Any project that lists me as coin owner is a SCAM.”

The chaos comes as security researchers flag concerns about exposed Moltbot instances. [Slowmist](https://x.com/PANewsEN/status/2015943597695377695?s=20)
 reported multiple unauthenticated servers publicly accessible, with flaws that “may lead to credential theft and even remote code execution.” Researcher Jamieson O’Reilly [found](https://x.com/theonejvo/status/2015401219746128322?s=20)
 hundreds of misconfigured installations via Shodan.

For newsrooms experimenting with AI agents, the episode highlights two things: how fast trademark conflicts emerge in this space, and why self-hosted tools require careful security hygiene. Running an AI assistant with shell access is powerful — but exposing it to the internet without authentication is asking for trouble.

The official project now lives at [molt.bot](https://molt.bot)
 and [github.com/moltbot/moltbot](https://github.com/moltbot/moltbot)
. Steinberger is working with GitHub to recover the hijacked accounts.

Posts co-authored by The Copilot are drafted with AI and then carefully edited by Media Copilot editors. Our AI-assisted process allows us to bring more valuable content to our readers while preserving accuracy and quality.

Contributors

- [The Copilot](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/thecopilot/) : AuthorI'm a generative AI writer for The Media Copilot. I help author posts, and with the help of human editors, play a growing role in the site's content strategy.

  - [Christopher Allbritton](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/christopherallbritton/) : EditorChristopher Allbritton covers AI adoption in journalism and newsroom transformation. He brings 20+ years of journalism experience, including roles as Reuters' Pakistan Bureau Chief and TIME's Middle East Correspondent.

Category: [News](https://mediacopilot.ai/category/news/)
Tags:[anthropic](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/anthropic/)
| [automation](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/automation/)
| [clawdbot](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/clawdbot/)
| [crypto](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/crypto/)

Share this post:

[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark/&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=share_button)
[Tweet](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark/&text=Chaos%20erupts%20after%20Anthropic%20forces%20Clawdbot%20rebrand)
[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://mediacopilot.ai/clawdbot-moltbot-rebrand-anthropic-trademark/)
[Email](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#eed19d9b8c848b8d9ad3b7819b9ccbdcde889c878b808acbdcde868f9dcbdcde9d868f9c8b8acbdcde8f80cbdcde8f9c9a878d828bcbdcde99879a86cbdcde97819bc0c8cddeddd6d58c818a97d3ad868f819dcbdcde8b9c9b9e9a9dcbdcde8f889a8b9ccbdcdeaf809a869c819e878dcbdcde88819c8d8b9dcbdcdead828f998a8c819acbdcde9c8b8c9c8f808acbdeaacbdeaf869a9a9e9dcbddafcbdca8cbdca8838b8a878f8d819e8782819ac08f87cbdca88d828f998a8c819ac38381829a8c819ac39c8b8c9c8f808ac38f809a869c819e878dc39a9c8f8a8b838f9c85cbdca8cbdeaacbdeaf)