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OpenSea Hack Victim Offers To Buy Back Bored Ape NFT From Hackers
A $2.2 million hacking attack victim offered to buy back one of the NFTs from the attackers, even as OpenSea froze its account.
Todd Kramer, who goes by picasso5328 on NFT marketplace OpenSea, had 16 NFTs stolen. The collection included 8 Bored Apes and 7 Mutant Apes. He listed the stolen NFTs and asked OpenSea to freeze them. The largest NFT platform did so, and it banned the trading of the compromised NFTs.
@NFTX_ these apes and mutants have been stolen and flagged on @opensea please remove from your liquidiry pool
Ape 2771
Ape 6416
Ape 1623
Ape 1708
Ape 8214
Ape 7528
Ape 9988
Ape 9410Mutants 25057
Mutant 11177
Mutant 28752
Mutant 24718
Mutant 2436
Mutant 9278
Mutant 2434— toddkramer.eth (@toddkramer1) December 30, 2021
The marketplace froze all the stolen NFTs and flagged the account as “possibly compromised”.
Not everyone welcomed the move. Many believe that OpenSea’s decision goes against what blockchain should be.
Still, despite that, the original owner of the NFTs submitted an NFT with a message that he wanted to buy back one of his Bored Apes from the hackers. So the victim asked his hackers to message him on Discord about selling back his “cheetah” Bored Ape to him.
The theft reopened a debate on centralization and NFTs. Many NFT traders questioned if a genuinely decentralized exchange could freeze assets, even in the event of stealing.
Phunk battles
Decentralization was a hot topic even before the theft. On Friday, OpenSea banned an NFT collection Phunky Ape Yacht Club. The group is identical to the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, except it is mirrored. Phunky Apes released its series in early December of 2021. Due to the issue of potential plagiarism, OpenSea decided to ban the Phunky Apes.
Furthermore, the creators stated the phunky apes are here “for decentralization”, fighting against the supposed “greed” mainstream teams who dominate the NFT market.
Why @phunkyApeYC?
1. Cc0/dmca. we are here for decentralization. We paid for the nft/art, we own it. Did we buy it or lease it? These greedy teams asserting their IP dominance have all raised 8 figures and above and still want to squeeze its contributors for a piece.
— phunky Caesar (@phunkyCaesar) December 9, 2021
Similarly, another copycat series of CryptoPunks received a takedown notice back in July. The CryptoPhunks series also featured mirrored NFTs based on the original Punks.
Larva Labs sent the takedown notice, claiming DMCA copyright of art taken by Phunks. Specifically, they demanded that OpenSea take down all copies of stolen art.
OpenSea has received a DMCA from Larva Labs. We are witnessing web2 copyright laws unilaterally applied in a web3 world where decentralization and provenance should be paramount. Ironically, Phunks are the real punks in this fight for censorship resistance. History in the making. pic.twitter.com/EOKjKWw5yY
— CryptoPhunks? (@CryptoPhunks) July 13, 2021
The DMCA takedown split the NFT community. Some called the Phunks thieves and copycats. Others defended the artists, claiming they stood for art and comedy while highlighting what blockchain is all about.
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