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OpenSea will pilot a system that freezes the trading of non-fungible tokens (NFT) involved in suspicious sales while it reviews the transaction to prevent theft and scams, the world’s largest NFT marketplace announced in a blog post on Wednesday.
See related article: NFT sales decline for sixth straight month despite tailwinds
Fast facts
- The platform’s new automated system will alert the seller when it detects a suspicious NFT sale, giving the user a week to dispute or confirm the transaction before the asset can be sold by the new owner.
- According to OpenSea, bad actors attempt to flip stolen NFTs after draining the victim’s assets via malicious links that claim to offer fake airdrops or free mints.
- Over US$100 million worth of NFTs were stolen between July 2021 and July 2022, according to crypto analysis firm Elliptic.
- Saurabh Sharma, head of search products at OpenSea, called scams and theft one of the biggest barriers to broader NFT adoption.
- While OpenSea has the ability to block the resale of stolen NFTs, the company said, though it can’t ensure victims will reclaim their lost assets without cooperation from the perpetrators.
- OpenSea also announced on Wednesday that it’s launching an automated URL scanner to identify malicious links and prevent theft and scams.
See related article: Each NFT scam perpetrator gained average of $300,000 in past year: Elliptic report