Million Dollar NFT Heist Stark Reminder of Risks With all t | NFT NEWS
Million Dollar NFT Heist Stark Reminder of Risks
With all the hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTS), it’s easy to forget that this blockchain niche remains largely unregulated. In some circles, NFTs have inherited the Wild West reputation that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin fended off in the early days. NFT critics argue these digital collectibles can be easily copied online as jpegs. However, the charm of NFTs is true ownership rights secured on the blockchain, and users are doling out thousands and even millions of dollars for this status symbol.
Investors were sorely reminded of the developing nature of NFTs last weekend when bad actors absconded with over $1 million worth of these trendy digital collectibles. OpenSea, the most popular platform for buying, selling, and minting NFTs, found itself in the middle of the heist. Meanwhile, OpenSea executives are addressing the incident and attempting to distance themselves from it simultaneously.
Based on social media accounts, the bad actors targeted OpenSea users by email, pretending to be from the platform and urging a planned migration of smart contracts. These products are synonymous with blockchains like Ethereum. Worse, OpenSea had a smart contract upgrade in the works, which gave the email recipients reason to believe it was legit. In reality, the criminals were behind what appears to be a phishing attack, at least in part, and what is being probed as a smart contract exploit.
