OpenSea Is Reimbursing Users Who Saw Their NFTs Snatched and Resold By Hackers

As a report has it, OpenSea has started reimbursing users who had their non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sold by attackers at prices far from market value on 24th January 2022.

It can be recalled that a bug in the OpenSea NFT marketplace enabled hackers to hijack a number of rare NFTs from owners for far below their market values and resell them for huge profits.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, at least three hackers were involved in exploiting a bug on the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace, OpenSea.

The report further stated that one of the attackers purchased a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT for $10,600 in ETH and resold it a few hours later for $34,800 worth of ETH.

In the report, Elliptic said, “The exploit appears to originate from the ability to re-list an NFT at a new price, without canceling the previous listing. Those previous listings are now being used to purchase NFTs at prices specified at some point in the past — which is often well below current market prices.”

The report pointed out that another attacker paid relatively $133,000 for seven NFTs and sold it quickly on the Marketplace for $934,000 worth of ETH.

OpenSea Starts Reimbursing Victims of the Major Exploit

In a conversation with The Block, an OpenSea spokesperson disclosed that the company has been actively reaching and reimbursing the victims of the major exploit, adding that the platform is taking the matter “incredibly seriously.”

According to the firm, there has been a ground effort to put the issue to rest for bad actors not to abuse it as scale. The company added that it’s working on product improvements to bring a lasting solution to the problem.

The company also clarified that the incident wasn’t an exploit or a bug, but a UI issue that surfaces when a user creates a listing, then transfers the NFT to a different wallet in order to avoid gas fees.

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Tobi Loba

Tobi Loba is a passionate writer with a vast interest in the stock market. She joined the crypto ecosystem about three years ago and has written lots of ebooks and articles in relation to cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. Tobi Loba earned her degree at the University of Ibadan.