Recently research Comparitech research shows that NFT theft is more frequent and profitable than ever before.
The company has been tracking NFT thefts since the non-fungible token standard was first introduced, with 2020 recording the first stolen NFT. Since then, over $86.6 million in tokens have been stolen. At current prices, these NFTs are worth over $896.5 million.
There is also a significant increase in the overall number of NFT thefts in 2022, which contrasts with the decline in the number of cryptocurrency hacks. Recorded by Comparitech. Of his 166 total NFT thefts, 14 will occur in his 2021 and only his 2 in 2020. The remaining 150 occurred in his 2022, making March the worst month for his NFT owner, in which he had 31 thefts.
Lympo was the largest theft based on the amount stolen during the attack. In January 2022, Animoca Brands’ sports-based NFT subsidiary lost his 165.2 million LMT tokens in a hot wallet hack. At the time of the attack, the token he was worth $18.7 million. In November 2021, WAX chain game Farmers World was hacked and his NFTs worth $15.7 million were stolen.
BAYC with $13.7 million stolen is the 3rd largest NFT hack of all time. In April 2022, BAYC’s Instagram account was hacked and dozens of his NFTs were stolen from users. The lowest stolen NFT price was around $14 million at the time of the attack.
In that study, Comparitech focused only on obvious exploits by hackers, excluding lag pulls, employee theft, phishing scams, and company errors. The research also included NFT attacks identified by security trackers such as PeckShield and CertiK.