On the NFT trade platform LooksRare, a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT reportedly stolen from Taiwanese musician Jay Chou sold for 164 ETH ($570,000).
According to the singer, the NFT, BAYC #3738, was taken along with numerous other tokens in a phishing assault.
The attack happened simultaneously as a hack on the official BAYC discord. However, it’s unclear if the two are connected. A Mutant Ape NFT was stolen during the BAYC raid.
According to on-chain statistics, the NFT has already passed through many hands since its theft on Friday. Its most recent selling was for a profit of approximately 50% above BAYC’s floor price.
The journey of the lost BAYC APE
The ape in dispute had gone through at least two purchasers in the hours following its abduction, according to a comprehensive study by blockchain security firm Beosin.
The first transaction involved 124 wrapped ETH (WETH), while the second involved 155 WETH.
The hacker utilized tornado cash, a prominent crypto mixer, to make the laundered ETH untraceable.
The LooksRare account that presently owns the token looks like a whale with an extensive collection of Bored Apes. It wasn’t apparent whether those Apes were also stolen items.
Thefts of Bored Apes are not uncommon since thefts have been documented since the NFT boom in 2021.
A never-ending spree of crypto hacks
A hacker drained a liquidity pool belonging to the popular play-to-earn game (P2E) Axie Infinity (AXS) last week, stealing around $600 million worth of tokens in the largest crypto heist.
On Monday, the hacker was seen transferring the majority of the stolen tokens into Tornado Cash, where they are likely to be untraceable.
Nonetheless, given the attack’s high visibility and the hacker’s use of private, centralized exchanges to fund it, their identity may be traceable in the near future.
The attacks highlight that no matter how unhackable you think anything is, the hackers find their way around everything. The best way is to have self custody of your own assets. The freedom of digital assets comes with great responsibility. It’s best to safeguard and secure it rather than weeping later once it’s lost.