Key Takeaways:
- Hackers have stolen NFT worth $86.6 million between 2020-2022
- At today's prices, the total value of stolen NFTs is over $890 million
- Out of the 166 cases so far, 150 occured in 2022
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Nonfugible token (NFT) theft has reached a record high. According to recent research by cybersecurity comparison platform Comparitech, NFT hackers have stolen nearly $86.6 million of NFTs in two years.
Per the report, these NFTs are worth over $896.5 million at today’s prices.
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150 cases of NFT theft in 2022
Comparitech has been tracking NFT theft since the industry came into existence. But, according to the company, they recorded the first heist in 2020.
Every year since then, the number of thefts has grown. However, NFT theft has grown nearly ten times in 2022.
According to the live tracker available on their website, out of the 166 heist incidents, 150 occurred this year alone. Additionally, 14 of the remaining 16 took place in 2021, while only 2 cases were recorded in 2020.
With 31 NFT theft incidents, March was the worst month, followed by July and June with 26 and 24 incidents, respectively.
To compile the data, Comparitech has relied upon various studies by security analysis companies, like Certik and PeckShield. In addition, they have also taken cues from information made available on NFT Twitter posts and media publications.
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Platforms that suffered the most due to NFT hackers
The study also gave details of the companies that suffered the biggest NFT heists. According to the report, a large chunk of the heist came from attacks on Lympo.
“The sports-based NFT and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, Lympo, lost 165.2 million LMT tokens in a hot wallet hack. At the time of the attack (January 2022), this was equivalent to $18.7m and affected ten wallets,”
the report writes.
Other companies that suffered the brunt of the hackers included WAX chain’s crypto game, Farmers World. The platform lost more than 100 million yuan in losses ($15.7 million) after a heist in November 2021.
According to the report, bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the iconic NFT project from Yuga Labs, also suffered a $13.7 million loss in the process.
A recent data from The Block Research revealed that a total NFT sale volume of $12.22 billion was recorded in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022. This marks a nearly 64% drop from the first quarter of this year, which had recorded a volume of $33.88 billion.
Moreover, according to data from the NFT aggregation site CryptoSlam, crypto sales are falling to 52-week lows. Data from the platform reveals that the NFT market has dipped by 25% between June and July 2022. Secondary sales in the NFT market have fallen to $650 million.