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OpenSea Freezes $2.2M of Stolen Bored Apes (cointelegraph.com) 93

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: NFT marketplace OpenSea has frozen 16 Bored Ape and Mutant Ape nonfungible tokens (NFT) after they were reportedly stolen yesterday from a New York art gallery operator. In total, one Clonex, seven Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and eight Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs currently valued at about 615 ETH ($2.28 million) were stolen and are now not able to be traded on OpenSea.

The toddkramer.eth account, which links to the Ross+Kramer Art Gallery in New York, fired off a series of tweets detailing the 16 NFTs that were stolen from his hot wallet and pleading with OpenSea and the NFT community for help. While the NFT community was often unsympathetic to the trader's plight, OpenSea froze trading on the stolen items. The freeze on buying and selling the NFTs have some traders decrying a lack of decentralization, one of the cherished aspects of the crypto industry. One Twitter commenter kw.sol said, "Who was able to freeze the n? Feels pretty anti crypto to be asking third parties to do this and ideally they shouldn't be able to."
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OpenSea Freezes $2.2M of Stolen Bored Apes More

OpenSea Freezes $2.2M of Stolen Bored Apes

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  • NFT - for those with more money than brains (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CaptAubrey ( 6299102 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @09:57AM (#62138259)

    This is what we have to worry about? Given real world issues of the Wuhan virus, political instability, etc. And we are fretting over a digitized art form that folks are spending hard earned cash for? Humanity knows no boundaries when it comes to greed, vanity, and narcissism.

    To each their own, but I'm a bit cynical when these issues make it to /.

  • Is there something inherently crypto that forces some 3rd party to have to accept a specific trade?

    • Re:Feels Anti-crypto (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DeanonymizedCoward ( 7230266 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:24AM (#62138359)

      Is there something inherently crypto that forces some 3rd party to have to accept a specific trade?

      This. So often the whining about Central Regulation and such amounts to "But I want to be able to do whatever I want!!"

      The crypto boosters imagine a vast unregulated libertarian utopia, much like the early days of the internet. And the infrastructure is there. Nothing prevents Private Individual A from buying a "stolen NFT" from Private Individual B, for any amount mutually agreeable to both, except for the fact that these items have no inherent value whatsoever. If I stole the Mona Lisa, it would no doubt be blacklisted by any reputable exchange houses, and I couldn't sell it "officially." I could sell it privately with no problem.

      It's right there in the name of the thing: NON-FUNGIBLE token. Each one is unique, and if the central authority or collective madness that gave it value decides it's worthless, it is. If you want to be able to sell stolen stuff anonymously, try fungible tokens.

      • Something *does* prevent that (Score:4, Informative)

        by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @11:21AM (#62138527)
        it's a 51% attack. Specifically if anyone has 51% of the chain they can re-write the chain. Crypto is sort of a hard and fast democracy as a result. This means a handful of large players can form a cabal and do the "golden rule" (he who has the gold has the rules).

        That's what's happening here with the exchanges. They've got so much crypto they control the chain. They have that crypto because the only way a financial system can scale and work is with a degree of centralization. We don't yet have the tech to make every man his own island. crypto didn't change that.
        • There are two parts to NFTs though. The crypto part lets you trade a specific token that has zero inherent value. This is the part which is subject to the whims of cryptocurrencies such as a 51% attack.

          The second part is the central authority which declares that the owner of a particular token owns some property. They can suddenly decide that a particular token is no longer valid. Essentially the token you purchase only has value if some central authority decides that it does...just like a fiat currency.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by raynet ( 51803 )

            NFT shouldn't require any 3rd party, the blockchain contains the changes in ownership and that can be used in a lawsuit if the ownership is ever in question.

          • just like a fiat currency

            All things crypto are fiat currencies by another name anyways.

            • It's that there's no currency that isn't a fiat currency. That's because as soon as you start taking something with no value and exchanging it for things that have value you quickly attract larger players who want to manipulate that market for gain. You then have two choices, either you let the large players control the market and skim 20 or 30% off the value of every exchange or the government steps in, regulates, and it becomes a fiat currency as we traditionally understand it.

              Basically centralization

              • Basically centralization in financial markets is inevitable and it's silly to pretend otherwise. Wealth builds on wealth and with wealth comes power. There's no getting around that. Democracy and regulation are the only real solutions

                No argument here. Good luck getting the crypto libertarians to believe that though despite the mounds of evidence that support your conclusion

            • All things crypto are fiat currencies

              Not really. A fiat is literally a decree i.e. fiat currencies are decreed to have a value by some authority, usually a government. Most crypto has a value that is determined by what people are willing to pay for it so there is nobody who "decrees" the value, it is more of a collective determination by the market.

              • 1 USD is worth 1 USD and 1 ETH is worth 1 ETH. Market factors determine the buying power of each currency. ETH has just as much centralized control as USD. EIP1559 to push deflation is no different than the Fed raising interest rates to curb inflation.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cfalcon ( 779563 )

          >it's a 51% attack. Specifically if anyone has 51% of the chain they can re-write the chain

          So, lets talk about bitcoin and ethereum. To have a 51% attack on bitcoin would require you to more than double the existing hashrate on bitcoin, and maintain that rate against all the attempts of white hats to fix it. As you're a generally anti-cryptocurrency poster, I assume you are aware that the amount of energy used by bitcoin is not trivial, and also that this is what you need to be 51% of to attack it. Wh

        • it's a 51% attack. Specifically if anyone has 51% of the chain they can re-write the chain.
          That's what's happening here with the exchanges.

          No. You have to control 51% of the mining hashrate, or in the case of proof-of-stake coins, hold 51% of the staked coins before you're in a position to fuck with the blockchain.

          What's happening here is that NFTs are individually identifiable (sort of like how cell phones have an IMEI that can be blacklisted), and individual marketplaces can decide they want nothing to do with ones that are stolen. Of course, with cell phones, there's an international blacklist database that's maintained under specific sta

        • it's a 51% attack. Specifically if anyone has 51% of the chain they can re-write the chain.

          You can't rewrite the chain with a 51% attack. You can roll back a few recent transactions, that's all.

      • If I stole the Mona Lisa

        Then there would be an empty space on the wall in the Louvre. I can search on "Bored Ape Yacht Club" and find copies all over the place on line. Exact copies? Who knows? But I can impress the average retard with the image as my laptop's wallpaper. And lacking the ability to digitally verify it as the one represented by the NFT, who can argue with me?

        The only value that the NFT has is as a proof of purchase receipt. But that only proves I was stupid enough to pay good money for what is available as a limitl

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by N1AK ( 864906 )
          Is it though. I'm pretty certain I could get a reproduction of the Mona Lisa more than good enough that 99.9%+ of people I meet wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't real; they would of course know it wasn't the original because they know who does own it and/or where it is; but that's true of an NFT. I'd much rather spend money on the Mona Lisa than any NFT but let's not kid ourselves that it comes down to more than what we would want people to think we've spent money on.

        • Re: Feels Anti-crypto (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @11:47AM (#62138619)

          NFT isn't art though. It's just a link to an address that has whatever it's linking to, like the bored ape image. That's why one of the more popular NFT scams is called "rug pulling" where whoever sells you the NFT just swaps the image at the linked address to an image of a rug.

          As for "but it's the receipt", the best take on it I've heard so far was from a lady on the twatter who posted "I'll be your NFT girlfriend, you can't ever touch me or interact with me in real life, but if you pay me enough money you can go around telling people I'm yours".

          The second best take is that "NFT is like the ultimate NTR, it's like you marry the woman you want, but everyone can have a go at her freely while you helplessly watch, holding the marriage certificate in your hand".

        • If I stole the Mona Lisa

          Then there would be an empty space on the wall in the Louvre. I can search on "Bored Ape Yacht Club" and find copies all over the place on line. Exact copies? Who knows? But I can impress the average retard with the image as my laptop's wallpaper. And lacking the ability to digitally verify it as the one represented by the NFT, who can argue with me?

          The only value that the NFT has is as a proof of purchase receipt. But that only proves I was stupid enough to pay good money for what is available as a limitless resource. The Mona Lisa isn't remembered for the guy that commisioned it. It's value is as a unique piece of art. Which a cartoon of a monkey is not.

          I just copied your comment.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mysidia ( 191772 )

        If you want to be able to sell stolen stuff anonymously, try fungible tokens.
        "Fungible" tokens can be stopped all the same by the exchanges identifying the wallet addresses stolen ones were spent to and transitively blacklisting the spent amount on any output addresses.

        Maybe it isn't common today, but only because the Exchanges might not be co-ordinating with each other over their decision about what coins involved in illegal or nefarious activity to get the blacklisting effective on all major exchanges f

    • on most blockchains that they can do a 51% attack and prevent trading. That's because the way they work is they hold onto currency for their customers. This is necessary because if they didn't the cost of transferring the currency would be too high (in terms of computational power / electricity) for even money laundering to be profitable.

      Basically, crypto didn't work. It collapsed under it's own weight. The exchanges moved in to keep the money laundering and speculation going, but they're not really exc

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by raynet ( 51803 )

        I don't think they do anything like that, they just keep all the information in the exchange and you have to pay gas fees if you ever pull the NFT from the exchange into your own wallet.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cfalcon ( 779563 )

        > "The exchanges hold enough crypto on most blockchains that they can do a 51% attack and prevent trading"

        The amount of crypto held doesn't allow a "51% attack" on anything except proof of stake blockchains. For instance, it has no effect on bitcoin, or monero, or ethereum (though ethereum is moving to proof of stake allegedly). The "51% attack" idea is the idea that if you can provide over half of the processing power of the network, you can write invalid transactions. Of course, people would notice

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by N1AK ( 864906 )
      The common ways something like this happens are: 1) That you are tricked into thinking you are giving access for something minor and are actually giving full access to the contents of the wallet (not as obvious as it sounds when you see what the permissions approvals look like) 2) That you are tricked into giving the credentials needed to control the wallet entirely (like giving away bank details, passwords etc) 3) Some form of hack that allows them to take actions on your behalf.

  • Clown world (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:01AM (#62138285)
    Seriously - we now trade in vapor and call it money.

    In the Art world, there is a concept called "Art is whatever you can get away with.

    So we ended up with "Piss Christ" Jeebuz suspended in a vial of Urine, or the rotting cow carcass. Silly, stupid things, worthless and not even remotely art.

    Enter the NFT. Carrying on an embarrassing tradition of hucksters and conmen plying their trade.

    • In a few years time I will be selling the NFT to the first ever NFT...

      • In a few years time I will be selling the NFT to the first ever NFT...

        I think the main attraction of NFT is that Fungible is fun to say.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by jddj ( 1085169 )

      Interestingly though, you remember, and have a reaction to Piss Christ, and the rotting cow carcass (or are you thinking about the pig in Lucite/Perspex that appeared at the Tate Modern?).

      The pieces got you to think and react, in a way that bland hotel art, Apple's Monterey desktop, and the kids with the huge eyes don't really.

      The "think and react" part is what differentiates "artworks" (love 'em or hate 'em) from "the painting that matches the couch".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jddj ( 1085169 )

        Pls ignore my ignorant comment about a "pig in Lucite/Perspex" - I went to check my decaying memory and found no reference to this.

        • Pls ignore my ignorant comment about a "pig in Lucite/Perspex" - I went to check my decaying memory and found no reference to this.

          Sounds like a worthy project though. 8^)

        • That sounded like a Damien Hirst thing. And, so it was.

          "This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed at Home". The man sure does like putting dead animals in plastic. "Some Comfort Gained From the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything", featuring a multiply cross-sectioned cow in acrylic, is also disturbing.

          https://www.damienhirst.com/th... [damienhirst.com]

          https://damienhirst.com/artwor... [damienhirst.com]
          • BTW, the rotting cow carcass that grows maggots which hatch into flies which are instantly killed by a bugzapper is also a Hirst. "A Thousand Years."

            https://www.damienhirst.com/a-... [damienhirst.com]

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jddj ( 1085169 )

            That's the one. It was shown at the Saatchi gallery (it says there), not the Tate.

            So I did remember it, but wrong gallery.

            Thanks for clarification.

            Yeah, that guy's....a lot to take.

      • Interestingly though, you remember, and have a reaction to Piss Christ, and the rotting cow carcass (or are you thinking about the pig in Lucite/Perspex that appeared at the Tate Modern?).

        The pieces got you to think and react, in a way that bland hotel art, Apple's Monterey desktop, and the kids with the huge eyes don't really.

        The "think and react" part is what differentiates "artworks" (love 'em or hate 'em) from "the painting that matches the couch".

        I have a sort of three pronged approach to art. There is the art that people hang on their walls. There is the art that gets you to think. There is the art that is specially designed to repulse you. Some times there is overlap among the tree.

        I often do the first two.(note I do photography) None is out to be banal. All is designed to allow for some thought.

        The world of banal, say the archetype "Velvet Elvis" paintings - ugh just not interesting other than wondering about the type of person who would h

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jddj ( 1085169 )

          So, (with genuine respect for your thoughts), where do (some of) Arbus' photos fit on this scale?

          Or (some of, and for some viewers) Mapplethorpe's gay erotica (who, for others reading this, didn't _only_ do photos depicting gay erotica)?

          • So, (with genuine respect for your thoughts), where do (some of) Arbus' photos fit on this scale?

            Or (some of, and for some viewers) Mapplethorpe's gay erotica (who, for others reading this, didn't _only_ do photos depicting gay erotica)?

            Arbus made compelling images with a certain level of discomfort yet also humor. My favorite of hers is the iconic Child With a Toy Grenade. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/... [metmuseum.org]

            While the image has the obvious look of frustration along with the toy hand grenade giving an idea that an eruption is imminent, note her bit of a trick with the composition as well. The composition of the image is slightly askew, also lending to the image tension.

            Who hasn't felt this way at some point? But there is a certain humor i

    • The man did some seriously impressive art early on in his career, but soon learnt people would pay good money for crap (so long as it was wrapped up in an oeuvre with some fatuous backstory) that he could knock up in an afternoon and Kerching!

      • The man did some seriously impressive art early on in his career, but soon learnt people would pay good money for crap (so long as it was wrapped up in an oeuvre with some fatuous backstory) that he could knock up in an afternoon and Kerching!

        Sad though. Hey, there is a conversation taking place about art in this thread if you want to get involved. Never thought that would happen on Slashdot, but if you want to get involved in it, chime in!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Phact ( 4649149 )

      Piss Christ is a beautiful and important work of art. The fact that you're mentioning it decades later is proof.

      • Piss Christ is a beautiful and important work of art. The fact that you're mentioning it decades later is proof.

        8^)

    • Piss Christ is actually a hauntingly beautiful image that evokes widely differing reactions and a degree of social commentary, how is that not art? You have just outed yourself as not having an informed or worthwhile opinion on the topic at hand.

      • Piss Christ is actually a hauntingly beautiful image that evokes widely differing reactions and a degree of social commentary, how is that not art? You have just outed yourself as not having an informed or worthwhile opinion on the topic at hand.

        Assuming that you are not serious, we do have a postmodern ethos of people who would say such a thing. It becomes an art world Poe effect, where the critique becomes part of the art, the critique might be purposely made as extreme as possible.

        But in the end, their action figures in bottles, dead cows and other strangeness becomes a footnote - if even that. more likely to be discussed by future critics as an abberation.

        I could do a dissertation of "Piss Christ" comparing it as similar to the Velvet Elvis

  • I like how there are absolutely no advantages (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:02AM (#62138293)
    to crypto for anyone but money launderers. I figured currency manipulation would be what broke the decentralization, but turns out it's even simpler than that, they because naturally centralized around the exchanges who now function just like the banks only without regulation. Meanwhile crypto uses mountains of electricity and is clogging landfills with obsolete ASICs and I still can't buy a new video card for less than $1000 bucks.

    You know guys, when you have something that is universally bad for society and civilization in generally it's ok to ban it. You don't even have to do it outright, just apply standard banking regulations to prevent market crashes and money laundering and watch it die off on it's own.

    Seriously, now that we've seen crypto's promise of freedom break down into little more than an expensive banking system can anyone justify it's existence?
    • I predict crypto currencies will evolve into something useless and silly like Fight Club, and the first rule of Fight Club is not to talk about Fight Club.
    • Matt Damon stood in front of mars with some crypto.com text telling us to be brave! What's wrong with you, this is the future!! Put all your assets in crypo, mortgage your house, what are you waiting for?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by rgmoore ( 133276 )

      exchanges who now function just like the banks only without regulation.

      This is exactly the point. Cryptocurrency exists to recreate the existing financial system but without regulation. That the main point of regulation is to prevent rich people from robbing everyone blind should not be lost on us. It certainly wasn't lost on the early investors, who are now the rich in the crypto world.

    • It's useful for turning taxpayer funded or employer funded electricity and hardware into personal funds. That isn't automatically money laundering, it's simple theft.

    • The government isn't going to step in and do something until it gets to a point where theses shenanigans start cannibalizing the real stock market. The government works for Wall St., not the people.

  • We don't care dumb NFT (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stooo ( 2202012 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:02AM (#62138295) Homepage

    We don't care dumb NFT

  • It's 2022 - time for a change (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Crowded ( 6202674 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:05AM (#62138299)
    Can we stop with the mad-lib/gotcha subjects for crying out loud?

    I already pre-coffee clicked on an article of a "Scientists just discovered a massive sea predator from the Triassic period" link . . . which of course was much better clickbait than "New fossil from Triassic period of a massive sea predator discovered"

    Let's resolve to have meaningful titles this year, at least for a few days . . . please?

  • I read that first sentence and didn't grok one word of it. I must be getting old.

  • Illusion abounds (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:12AM (#62138319)
    Nobody stole anything. This isn't real.

  • These guys' penchant for cutesy oddball names can result in headlines that make for interesting mental images. Cryogenics for pilfered primates who have ennui?

  • Please add an NFT topic option. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Monday January 03, 2022 @10:36AM (#62138403) Homepage
    So that I can ignore it in my Slashdot preferences, thank you in advance.
    -Nothing For Thieves.
  • Oh no! My arms are so tired from carrying all this gold!

  • I assume whoever wrote this headline and story has just had a stroke. Can someone please call an ambulance and try to comfort the victim. Hopefully their ability to speak English will return if they can get medical help soon enough.

  • They need to freeze the whole lot and shut it down.

      They crypto-hype has a way of shrinking people's brains and make organized crime bosses smile from ear to ear.

      Crypto-currency anything should become the instant subject of an FBI and/or Interpol investigation. I don't care if what I say pisses people off. The hammer needs to come down hard.

      Recently, the Staples Center in my city was renamed Crypto.com. I'm not even a sports fan, but this pissed me off.

  • So, therefore, if I legally buy an NFT, this outfit can decide they don't like me and "freeze" it so I can never sell it? Just like banks cancel accounts because they don't like their customer's politics?

    • Technically, there is nothing stopping anyone from "selling" the same link (NFT tokenURI that's stored in the blockchain) to the same resource.

      Legal precendent has supported the fact that links themselves do not infringe copyright of the copyrighted material (most NFT's copyright's are still held by the artist, not the purchaser).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cfalcon ( 779563 )

      No, it just means you can't sell it *on their platform*. You can still exchange the token normally. They actually have done the same for political reasons already- they delisted a series of NFT images made by Stonetoss.

  • CeFi is the new DeFi FT is the new NFT

  • If frozen, is the sea open yet?

  • The article seems to deliberately misunderstand what "frozen" means, as it implies the NFT cannot be transferred. The NFTs can still be transferred, as they are just tokens on the ethereum network and you can just transfer them normally.
    https://cyberscrilla.com/trans... [cyberscrilla.com]
    It would be a big deal if the ethereum network somehow blacklisted a token transfer- that would be "frozen".
    Opensea is just a marketplace for NFTs. Like all marketplaces, it has its own rules, which it changes capriciously. This is not the

  • I tried reading TFS, I really did. Have we hit peak cryptobabble? This reads like something Chris Morris would've written.
  • Planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters?
  • The new Zen mediation of our age:

    If an NFT is stolen from a crypto wallet and there's no one around to give fuck...
    What sounds does it make?

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