Mintable Recovers NFTs Stolen in OpenSea Exploit

NFT marketplace Mintable has recovered three NFTs that were stolen in a recent phishing attack on the OpenSea platform. The company is now looking for the owners of the NFTs so as to return three Azuki NFTs that were among those stolen:

Azukis Found on LooksRare

According to a press release issued by Mintable, its team was acquiring Azuki NFTs on the LooksRare platform for its February Floor Buster flash sale when it found and bought Azukis #1178, #4176 and #1180, which had been lost in a February 19 exploit on OpenSea. The team at Mintable said in an announcement that it “would like to return them to their previous holders”.

The exploit on OpenSea saw about US$1.75 million worth of NFTs stolen via a phishing scam. Zach Burks, CEO and founder of Mintable, said: “This exploit was possible because of a bug on OpenSea, and if OpenSea isn’t going to make it right, someone has to.”

Burks added that “for some of these people, all their net worth is tied up in their NFTs and it’s horrible to have them stolen. We like the Azuki community and we want to help give back to the people who lost over $140,000 through the exploit.”

The attack was initially reported to be an exploit, but OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer subsequently stated that users had fallen victim to a phishing attack that “did not originate” on OpenSea itself. Finzer added that users had inadvertently “signed a malicious payload from an attacker, and some of their NFTs were stolen”:

OpenSea in Troubled Waters

OpenSea is undergoing difficult times as it continues to fall victim to exploits and other malicious activities. The platform is also being sued for US$1 million in damages after a user had his Bored Ape #3475 stolen from his crypto wallet.

Many users have taken to Twitter to express their concerns: