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The $NFT market has recently been plagued by theft and fraud. However, there’s good news for the sector, as incidents of theft decreased by 30% in March. According to PeckShield, approximately 74.9% of the stolen NFTs were first sold on Blur, with another 19.5% on OpenSea.
The $NFT market performed a little better in terms of security in March, with the month seeing a 30% drop in related thefts compared to February.
PeckShield tweeted that the sector saw $10.9 million worth of NFTs stolen, which is a 30% drop from February’s $16.2 million. January saw $4.4 million stolen.
Blur Marketplace Dominates Sales of Stolen $NFT Assets
It also noted that half of the NFTs stolen were quickly sold on marketplaces within two hours. Approximately 74.9% of the stolen NFTs were first sold on Blur, with another 19.5% on OpenSea.
PeckShield also tweeted an image showing that Blur has increasingly become a platform on which thieves sell their NFTs. March is a particular outlier in this regard, with a major portion of stolen NFTs being sold on Blur. Previous months show slight growth, so it remains to be seen if this is a trend.
The $NFT market has become a major target for hackers and bad actors, as it has grown so quickly in a short space of time. Attackers will look at all avenues to steal these assets, whether it’s phishing or compromising websites. Victims include Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which is a particularly lucrative target for attackers.
Blur Overtakes OpenSea
Perhaps the increased use by hackers of Blur to sell stolen NFTs is a result of the fact that Blur has become more popular. The platform managed 69% of monthly ETH volume last month, with OpenSea only accounting for 20% of the volume.
However, not all is well with the platform, as Blur has been accused of suspicious activity and market manipulation by CryptoSlam. Researchers from the latter state that the $NFT marketplace is artificially inflating sales volumes.
NFTs Reach $4.7B in Sales in Q1 2023
While the $NFT market hit $4.7 billion in sales volumes, the number of daily unique active wallets has dropped by 9.7% compared to the last quarter. The total dollar value of the assets stolen in the quarter was $373 million. This is a whopping 92.6% drop from the previous quarter’s $5 billion.
DappRadar’s report detailing these statistics offers a good picture of how the $NFT market is moving. So far, it has been a bullish start to 2023 for the $NFT market.