In a brazen cyber heist, peer-to-peer trading platform NFT Trader has fallen victim to a sophisticated hack. This led to the theft of millions of dollars worth of high-value non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Among the digital assets stolen were rare tokens from popular collections such as Bored Ape, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, World of Women NFTs, VeeFriends, and Art Blocks.
Hackers steal valuable NFTs.
NFT Trader confirmed the attack, revealing that “old smart contracts” were the hackers’ entry point. The company advised users to revoke all permissions previously granted to these smart contracts.
The attack reportedly stopped after NFT Trader updated its contract to fix a re-entrancy vulnerability.
“Malicious code was executed on two of our older smart contracts by a third party. However, we have taken all necessary steps to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. “For added security, we recommend using Cancel(.)Cash or a similar tool after completing a transaction on any platform and using cold wallets as intended without interacting with (or signing) smart contracts.” NFT Trader said.
In a bold move, the main attacker left a public message on the blockchain. He blamed other users for the NFT exploit and claimed the attack was “picking up leftover trash.” The hacker offered to return the tokens for a ransom of 3 ETH per Bored Ape and 0.6 ETH per Mutant Ape.
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The incident revealed a series of puzzling actions by the attacker, including returning one Bored Ape to the user along with an additional 31 ETH while retaining the ApeCoin rewards, and returning certain staked Bored Apes to their owners.
“I am a good person. The value of this NFT is enough for a person to live a free life, but I don’t care about that… Due to limited technical capabilities, it is not possible to acquire all affected NFTs at once. , and it costs me a lot of energy and time. So… if you want to get (your NFT) back, you have to pay me a bounty. This is what I deserve,” Hacker said.
NFT trading volume surges
This security breach led to a surge in activity in the NFT market. Last week, sales increased 52.81% to $503.35 million.
NFTs on the Bitcoin network have emerged as a dominant force, generating $276.79 million, surpassing Ethereum’s $99.67 million.
“The surge in interest and investment in NFTs can be partially attributed to the general sentiment of a bull market in the cryptocurrency space. Typically, in these market conditions, capital tends to flow to NFTs,” DappRadar said in a recent report.
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Some of the most notable sales this week included Fidenza #985 on Ethereum ($277,000) and a Bitcoin-based Van Gogh painting NFT ($263,000).
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