OpenSea Refunded $1.8M In ETH To Users That Lost NFTs In Exploit

OpenSea refunded $1.8 million in ETH to the users that lost NFTs in the recent exploit on the platform as we reproted in our crypto news previously.

Fixing the issue is the NFT marketplace’s number one priority according to co-founder Alex Atalla. OpenSea refunded $1.8 million in ETH to the users that accidentally sold valuable NFTs at below their going market rate via an exploit that involves inactive listings. A few other users of leading FNT marketplaces complained that their blue-chip NFTs like those belongings to the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection were purchased at cheap prices. The listings were not canceled on the blockchain even though the user’s interface on OpenSea suggested they had been. The tech-savvy buyers were using services like Tornado Cash to funnel the money into the crypto wallet addresses without disclosing the source and using the funds to buy NFTs at old listing prices.

1/ WARNING: DO NOT CANCEL YOUR OS LISTINGS AS STATED IN THE EMAIL THAT OPENSEA JUST SENT OUT🚨🚨

Please FIRST transfer your NFT to a different address and cancel the listing/s on the original address BEFORE sending it back

OS just put everyone at even more risk than before🧵

— dingaling (@dingalingts) January 27, 2022

The exploit is not new. The Ethereum blockchain requires users to pay a gas fee to execute the transactions but before OpenSea implemented expiration dates on the listings, most NFT holders had inactive listings that had no expiration date and required manual cancellation via the paid gas fee. In an effort to avoid paying ETH gas fees that can run into the hundreds for one transaction, some NFT owners found a way out. If they transferred the NFT to a secondary wallet and then back to the first wallet, the listing vanished on OpenSEA UI. In reality, however, simply from active to inactive and these inactive listings can still be purchased by blockchain experts that interact with the smart contracts themselves.

Some BAYC holders were told by OpenSea that they will be refunded some ETH for their loss. Tballer who lost Ape #9991 for 0.77 ETh said that he felt he had a slow response from OpenSea but was happy they got back to him:

“The [NFT] community helped me through this. The night it happened I was pretty close to going home and selling everything.”

Tballer’s Ape seems to belong to Juan Fdez now who bought two of the Apes that were sold but now if Tballer wants his Ape back, he will have to pay 130 ETH. OpenSea also sent out an email to NFT owners with inactive listings telling them to act urgently to cancel the inactive listings.