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- An individual purchased a BAYC NFT for a considerable price.
- Attackers stole BAYC NFT just after a couple of hours of acquisition.
- Hackers used RenBridge to make the untraceable transfer.
Gone In 120 Minutes
People usually think NFTs are often highly profitable investments, which can help them in the long run. They are not wrong, but there are always some drawbacks that can offer a blow to the investors. NFT hacks are one of those aspects. Recently, an individual took over a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT, only to lose it after just a couple of hours of purchase.
The event was reported on Twitter by a user who claimed to be a rug-pull survivor turned investigator. The individual uploaded the screenshots of the images showing how the person acquired the digital collectible for 70.69 Ethereum or 116,000 USD. The hackers used RenBridge, which has come to prominence in these types of cases recently, to make the transfer afterwards.
Hackers Uses RenBridge Often
Previously, Elliptic, a security provider for cryptocurrency organizations, claimed in a report that the attackers are using this bridge too often, and have stolen 540 Million USD at that time. The organization said that the platform is connected to Russian gangs and cybercriminals are using it to receive ransomware payments. Making it a frequent choice to clean the dirty money.
RenBridge has links to the infamous ‘Ronin Bridge’ hack where the attackers were able to wipe out 625 Million USD worth of crypto assets. The hackers in this case used Ren and other similar services to convert their virtual assets into Bitcoin. This attack is considered as the biggest hack in the history of cryptocurrency, and shook the Axie Infinity ecosystem from top to bottom.
Laundering and wash trading are the most common illicit acts among the hackers in the NFT space. Discord remains the easiest tool to enter the community for the attackers. Back in December 2021, some illicit actors hacked the server to enter the Monkey Kingdom NFT collectibles, where they bagged 7,000 Solana or 1.3 Million USD.
During January 2022, some hackers found a vulnerable spot in the biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea. They used this bug to take over expensive NFT collectibles cheaply. BAYC, MAYC and Cool Cats were among the digital collections which were wiped by the attack.
Hackers are like crawlers who are always looking out for some loopholes to enter the system. However, developers can always work on finding these programming gaps at the production stage to avoid hackers. This will help them fix the vulnerability to avoid any risks from these illegitimate actors in the space.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
