This week had a terrible start for a few BAYC holders whose Bored Ape NFTs were sold for less than 7 ETH – all due to an OpenSea bug.
Basically, the glitch allowed digital thieves to use previous listings to sell NFTs at insane discounts. As a result, multiple BAYC digital assets were listed on the secondary marketplace. The cheapest one sold for 0.77 ETH, way below the collection’s 88 ETH floor price.
Obviously, the event caused a stir among collectors as they’re trying to answer a simple question: who is the real culprit?
How was a Bored Ape NFT sold for 0.77 ETH?
In essence, it all comes down to a glitch on the OpenSea marketplace. For example, if you list an NFT for sale and then want to de-list it, the only valid way to do so is to sign a transaction blacklisting your listing. However, this transaction requires paying a certain gas fee.
In order to avoid the gas fee, many users choose to transfer the NFT from one ETH address to another. This step automatically de-lists the digital asset from the marketplace – but there’s a catch.
Although the offer will no longer appear on the OpenSea platform, it will still be valid via the marketplace’s database. This means that the listing, which includes your signed message approving that you’re ready to sell your NFT, is still there.
So, to summarize, virtual thieves can use old NFT listings that weren’t properly de-listed to purchase digital assets insanely cheap. It’s exactly what happened to Twitter NFT influencer @TBALLER.eth, who quite literally woke up to see his Laurel Bored Ape NFT sold for 0.77 ETH via OpenSea.
Top NFT collectibles sold for a bargain
The shocking theft story begins on Monday. Then, the Bored Ape #9991 NFT featuring a rare Laurel trait sold for 0.77 ETH via OpenSea. Of course, its holder @TBaller was petrified to see the ape disappearing from his wallet. The collector immediately took to Twitter to explain the event, only to find out it was due to an OpenSea glitch.
Soon enough, other collectors noticed their digital assets getting sold for a bargain too. In this case, NFTs from the Cool Cats, BAYC, and CyberKongz collections were all sold to the same wallet for ridiculously low prices. Fellow Twitter NFT influencer Hustler revealed all transactions as they were being made:
Of course, the thief re-sold some of the digital assets – including TBaller’s Bored Ape NFT – for their actual price, generating plenty of profit. Meanwhile, the real owners watched as each transaction took place, desperately reaching out to OpenSea for help.
Rarible temporarily disabled OpenSea orders
Unfortunately, OpenSea didn’t make any statements regarding the massive Bored Ape NFTs theft. However, the glitch causing this situation has been known for quite a while.
In fact, the Rarible platform even addressed the issue on January 5th. At the time, it announced that it would disable all OpenSea orders “to protect our users”. In addition, the platform has also developed a tool that signals risky sale orders to each user. This way, collectors can properly cancel them on time.
In the meantime, the thief turned out to be unusually generous, sending 20 ETH back to TBaller hours after stealing his Bored Ape NFT.
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