Cryptocurrency prices have been unstable in recent days because of the situation in Ukraine. However, news of a serious attack on the OpenSea platform has caused them to fall even further.
Bitcoin has plunged below $40,000 per bitcoin, down over 5% in the last 24 hours, like Ethereum and its rivals BNB, Solana, Cardano have all fallen between 6% and 8%. Even as the cryptocurrency market braces for a $100 trillion earthquake.
The newest crypto market collapse, which has destroyed nearly $300 billion from the combined crypto market in just a few days, was caused by a series of viral tweets from panicking NFT traders, according to OpenSea, which is looking into “reports of an exploit.”
“This appears to be a phishing attempt, at this time,” OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer tweeted late last night. “We don’t think it’s related to the OpenSea website. An attacker has already signed a malicious payload from 32 users, with some of their NFTs stolen. “
The attacker, whose Ethereum address can be found here, appears to have stolen at least $3 million in NFTs, including from the well-known Bored Ape Yacht Club collection that includes Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon as members.
Etherscan, a blockchain tracking website, has added a “caution” to the hackers’ Ethereum address, warning that it was used in an OpenSea phishing scam. OpenSea phishing scams attempt to deceive visitors by offering them phony sites that look similar to genuine ones.
“I don’t see how OpenSea survives this mess,” David Gokhshtein, Gokhshtein Media’s founder and owner of blockchain and lifestyle media company, Bored Ape Yacht Club, NFT, posted to Twitter.
OpenSea is one of the largest platforms for trading digital assets that are not physical. It is valued at $13 billion and has many investors, including venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz and actor Ashton Kutcher.
NFTs are digital tokens that can be used to certify the authenticity or prove ownership. They are based on the Ethereum blockchain, but high fees and network congestion have been causing problems for users.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have been growing in popularity. They are used in sports, music, and art. This has helped the Ethereum price grow more than Bitcoin’s price over the last year. Ethereum has also been doing well compared to other popular cryptocurrencies like BNB, Solana, and Cardano.
The value of cryptocurrencies has gone down by almost half since November. The bitcoin price decline happened in January amid a broad stock market slump that was driven by technology firms that had thrived during the coronavirus epidemic.
The Federal Reserve plans to raise interest rates and reduce its balance sheet. This has caused investors around the world to become scared.
