New York, NY, USA, Feb 26, 2022 -- NFT marketplace, Mintable, is sending 3 NFTs that were stolen in a recent OpenSea exploit, back to their rightful owners. They found the NFTs on the LooksRare marketplace, which has garnered its own reputation for over USD 10 billion in wash trading and stolen NFTs, while acquiring NFTs for Mintable's most recent flash sale.
In an exploit on 19 Feb, OpenSea users had about USD 1.75 million worth of NFTs stolen by a phishing scam. Mintable was buying Azuki NFTs for their flash sale on 20 Feb, which is part of Mintable's ongoing floorbuster campaign to sell trending collections below floor prices. They came across listings for the stolen NFTs and bought Azuki #1178, #4176 and #1180 for about ž13.35 each and would like to return them to their previous holders.
œThis exploit was possible because of a bug on Opensea, and if OpenSea isn't going to make it right, someone has to, stated Mintable founder and CEO, Zach Burks, œFor some of these people, all their net worth is tied up in their NFTs and it's horrible to have them stolen. We like the Azuki community and we want to help give back to the people who lost over $140,000 through the exploit.
Maintaining a Safe Space for NFT Communities
The OpenSea hack highlights security risks in Web3, and the imperative that users are well-informed about potential threats in the evolving landscape. While 3 NFTs have been recovered and will be returned by Mintable, over a million dollars' worth of NFTs remain lost.
A leading technology platform in the space, Mintable has pioneered gasless minting, batch minting and credit card purchases of NFTs. Burks believes it is now time to take another kind of step forward.
Mintable is first reaching out to the Azuki project to help identify the community members who own the recovered NFTs, and then to open up a channel of communication to ensure that the NFTs returned remain secure.
Understanding the vital importance of communities in the NFT space, Mintable's most recent gesture reflects the platform's commitment to building and maintaining a secure space where NFT buyers and holders can transact with their peace of mind intact.
