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- 1 Month-over-month, NFT volumes, traders, and related trades are all way near the bear market.
- 2 A decline of nearly 29% in the trading volume and a 23% drop in the NFT sales is observed in July month.
NFT scams are standing as one of the biggest challenges in digital assets and NFTs as cybercriminals are exploring new ways to steal assets. In the past few months, a general decline in the NFT market, sales, and trade is realized, leading NFT stealing progressing bears markets. PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, stated that $1.73 Million of NFTs were stolen in June and $16.2 Million were stolen in February, representing a drop of 31% and 89% respectively. In addition, around half of the stolen NFTs were sold in just two and a half hours, mainly over the Blur platform. What is the reason behind the NFT sales drop? Is it legal to Buy stolen NFTs?
Let’s fulfill the curiosity and find answers to these questions.
The Reason Behind NFT Sales Drop
OpenSea, one of the largest web3 marketplaces for NFTs penalizes users who buy stolen NFTs. Purchasing NFTs, intentionally or unintentionally is against US laws and is considered faulty. Who lists these NFTs in the marketplace for sales?
Cybercriminals usually take charge of stolen NFTs and list the same in different marketplaces for sale. According to the analysis of PeckShield, hackers are on a speed to sell illicitly achieved NFTs. As a result of this, around half of the stolen NFTs were sold within 165 minutes across different marketplaces. Blur appears as one of the biggest platforms in the list which sold around 67.3% of the stolen NFTs, followed by OpenSea and X2Y2 with 19.63% and 10.07% respectively.
In recent months, a decline in NFT theft is observed and a drop in NFT market volume and sales boomed as one of the main reasons. Ongoing crypto winter declined the number of NFT sales, a decline of 29% in trading volume and 23% in sales is observed.
Exploring the impact of the circumstance on the NFTs, Azuki and Bored Ape Yacht Club fell to the lowest levels in terms of floor price whereas, Gods Unchained and Cryptopunks presented a normal increase in the floor price.
Apart from this, some positive changes have also been observed in the NFT marketplace in recent months. The polygon network attracted around 772,424 traders in July, resulting in lower gas fees and making it the best choice for businesses like Nike, Starbucks, and Reddit.
Why FBI is Concerned for NFT Theft
The rise in financial frauds mainly in the NFT marketplace attracted the FBI to the crime happening in the crypto landscape. To minimize such criminal attacks, the FBI issues a warning that cybercriminals are posing as legitimate NFT creators to defraud unsuspecting users involved in NFTs. Also, the victims are urged to report suspicious and fraudulent activities to fight these scams and minimize the same.
Conclusion
Stealing NFTs and selling the same on different marketplaces is considered unlawful in the US and the FBI is ready to minimize such cybercrime activities. Ongoing crypto winter resulted in a huge decline in the sales drop for stolen NFTs in the past few months. A decline of 29% in the trade volume and 23% in sales is observed.
Adarsh Singh is a true connoisseur of Defi and Blockchain technologies, who left his job at a “Big 4” multinational finance firm to pursue crypto and NFT trading full-time. He has a strong background in finance, with MBA from a prestigious B-school. He delves deep into these innovative fields, unraveling their intricacies. Uncovering hidden gems, be it coins, tokens or NFTs, is his expertise. NFTs drive deep interest for him, and his creative analysis of NFTs opens up engaging narratives. He strives to bring decentralized digital assets accessible to the masses.
