1. Home
  2. NFT Markets

NFT Markets

Nifty News: Trader nabs 800 ETH by baiting a bot, NFT thefts slow and more

A trader walked off nearly $1.5 million richer after tricking a bot copying his trades to buy a slew of NFTs at a markup.

NFT trader's $1.5M bot chess move

YouTuber and nonfungible token (NFT) trader Hanwe Chang said he scored 800 Ether (ETH), around $1.5 million, by tricking a rival trader’s bot into buying his own inflated NFTs.

In an Aug. 5 X (Twitter) post, Chang said he noticed a bot was copying his bids on the NFT marketplace Blur and decided to trick them.

An NFT-focused account A Raving Ape speculated that from a separate, anonymous wallet Chang purchased multiple Azuki NFTs sharing the same background color.

Knowing bots were copying his trades, Chang placed an inflated bid on the NFTs held in his anonymous wallet from his publicly-known hanwe.eth wallet.

Once a bot automatically copied the inflated bid, Chang accepted it from his anonymous wallet and was able to palm off the NFTs at a significant markup.

Seemingly, the owner of the bot known as elizab.eth responded to Chang’s post claiming the funds were stolen and offered to discuss a 10% bounty if the funds were returned.

Chang’s on-chain move triggered discussion over its legality.

Lawyer Gabriel Shapiro said he thinks elizab.eth “might have good legal claims” to get their ETH back from Chang’s trick — but only if they hire a skilled litigation attorney.

NFT volumes nearly halves over July

NFT volumes have continued to slide in the ongoing bear market, having sank by almost half over July.

Figures from NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam show U.S. dollar sales volume decreased nearly 42% over July with the month starting off with $22 million in daily volume before sinking to $12.8 million on July 31.

Weekly NFT sales with black line depicting U.S. dollar sales volume. Source: Cryptoslam!

July’s drop comes after a significant rally in late June where daily sales volumes peaked at nearly $58.5 million on June 27, the largest trading day since March 16’s $61.9 million figure.

Royalties from NFTs are also biting creators. A July 25 report from Nansen said out of the 699,816 ETH in royalties paid to NFT projects, just 9.4% of the figure was in the first half of 2023.

Nansen said the effective fee rate for royalties has seen a significant downtrend — average royalties in 2022 were 2.5% which as of July 2023 had dropped to 0.6%, a 98% drop.

Slow month for NFT thefts

On the other hand, NFT-related thefts have seen their slowest month in 2023.

Figures by blockchain security firm PeckShield shared on Aug. 6 show around $1.7 million worth of NFTs were stolen in July. The figure marks a 31% decrease from June.

PeckShield said half of the stolen NFTs were sold within less than three hours, or 165 minutes, on marketplaces such as Blur and OpenSea after being nabbed.

Blur had the highest amount of stolen NFTs sold, with over 67% while OpenSea had just under 20% sold through its platform, PeckShield claimed.

Just over $41.5 million worth of NFTs have been stolen in 2023 up until the end of July. February was the biggest month for NFT thieves, where they stole $16.2 million worth of tokens.

Gary Vee’s NFT project also steps into sneaker trend

VeeFriend’s, the NFT project by entrepreneur and internet talking head Gary Vaynerchuck has joined the latest craze of NFT-related sneakers.

On Aug. 4 VeeFriend’s announced its partnered with Reebok to launch a limited edition sneaker only available to those holding an alpaca-related NFT as part of the collection.

The shoe looks like any other aside from a few changes. The tongue of the shoe depicts the original handdrawn version of VeeFriend’s alpaca NFT and the NFT project’s logo appears in place of Reebok’s.

Related: NFT gas usage shows downward trend, signals shift in landscape

It’s the third sneaker-NFT project in recent weeks. In late June Dior put up a new line of sneakers that offered an NFT replica and NFT’s came embedded in Puma’s recent sneaker collection.

Other Nifty News

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has finally caught on that criminals are hijacking social media accounts and posing as legit NFT and crypto space figures, posting a warning of the trend on Aug. 4.

NFT protocol JPEG’d confirmed 5,495 ETH worth about $10 million was returned by the Curve Finance hacker, who received a bounty of 610.6 ETH, or $1.1 million.

Magazine: 6 Questions for Simon Davis of Mighty Bear Games

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

NFT Marketplace Looksrare Launches Version 2, Cutting Protocol Fees by 75% and Introducing Bulk Purchases

NFT Marketplace Looksrare Launches Version 2, Cutting Protocol Fees by 75% and Introducing Bulk PurchasesLooksrare, the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has launched version two, also known as v2, which reduces protocol fees by 75%. According to statistics from Dune Analytics, Looksrare was the tenth-largest NFT marketplace in terms of trader count during the past week. NFT Market Protocol Looksrare Launches v2 NFT marketplace Looksrare announced the launch of version […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Opensea Drops Fees to Zero and Announces New Creator Earnings Model in Response to Shifting NFT Landscape

Opensea Drops Fees to Zero and Announces New Creator Earnings Model in Response to Shifting NFT LandscapeThe largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Opensea, has announced major changes to its fee structure and policies in response to a shift in the NFT ecosystem. The company detailed that it will drop fees to zero for a limited time and offer an optional creator earnings model with a minimum of 0.5% for all […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

NFT Market Sales Climb 16% Higher; 43.48% Increase in Buyers in Third Week of 2023

NFT Market Sales Climb 16% Higher; 43.48% Increase in Buyers in Third Week of 2023Closing out the third week of January 2023, non-fungible token (NFT) assets saw a 16.39% increase in overall sales. 320,580 buyers participated in the NFT market action this past week, an increase of 43.48% compared to the week prior. $256.69 million in NFT sales were recorded over the last seven days, with $206.06 million being […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Cryptopunks Climb Past Bored Ape NFT Floor Values Amid Crypto Market Carnage

Cryptopunks Climb Past Bored Ape NFT Floor Values Amid Crypto Market CarnageDuring the last five days, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) stemming from the Cryptopunks NFT collection have surpassed Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs in terms of floor value. Statistics over the last ten days show the floor value of Cryptopunks NFTs remained above the 60 ether zone, while BAYC-based NFT floor values dropped below the 60 […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Twitter Reveals ‘NFT Tweet Tiles’ in Order to ‘Impact’ the Social Media Experience

Twitter Reveals ‘NFT Tweet Tiles’ in Order to ‘Impact’ the Social Media ExperienceAccording to the social media company Twitter, the firm plans to launch a new feature called “NFT Tweet Tiles,” a segregated panel within a tweet that showcases non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the marketplaces that list the specific NFT shared. The new NFT concept is expected to drop soon, in order to “impact the Tweet experience,” […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Q2 2022 Cryptocurrency Report Highlights Terra’s Collapse and Capital Exiting the Crypto Ecosystem

Q2 2022 Cryptocurrency Report Highlights Terra’s Collapse and Capital Exiting the Crypto EcosystemOn July 13, the dedicated crypto price tracking, volume, and market capitalization web portal Coingecko published the company’s “Q2 2022 Cryptocurrency Report” which discusses the last quarter’s crypto market action and insights. The 46-page report explains how the Terra UST and LUNA fallout wreaked havoc on the entire crypto ecosystem and the stablecoin economy. Moreover, […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Free-to-Mint NFT Collection Goblintown Is Now Worth Over $50 Million

Free-to-Mint NFT Collection Goblintown Is Now Worth Over  MillionA non-fungible token (NFT) collection called Goblintown is capturing millions in sales, as the NFT project has recorded $22.85 million in sales this week surpassing Otherdeed’s $20.73 million. At the time of writing, Goblintown obtained $2.26 million in sales during the past 24 hours, and the collection’s floor value jumped 103.2% higher today, to a […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Opensea’s All-Time NFT Sales Volume Crosses $20 Billion

Opensea’s All-Time NFT Sales Volume Crosses  BillionData indicates the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea has crossed $20 billion in all-time sales. The leading NFT marketplace has seen more than 1.2 million traders leverage the platform since the market’s inception in 2017. 1.2 Million Opensea Traders and $20 Billion in Sales Volume Metrics show that the NFT marketplace Opensea has surpassed $20 […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen

Adidas Originals NFT Compilation Enters Top 50 Collections by Volume, Close to $60M in Sales in 18 Days

Adidas Originals NFT Compilation Enters Top 50 Collections by Volume, Close to M in Sales in 18 DaysLess than 20 days ago, the German multinational sneaker and sportswear corporation Adidas launched the company’s Adidas Originals non-fungible token (NFT) collection and since then the NFT compilation has surged into the top 50 NFT collections in terms of sales. Adidas NFT Collection Sees Significant Demand in Less Than 20 Days At the end of […]

Digital Asset Traders Withdraw $208,000,000 Worth of Crypto From KuCoin Following Government Charges: Nansen