The volume of NFT theft declined significantly in July, falling by more than 20% compared to June.
As per the PeckShield study, a blockchain security company, July saw $1.73 million worth of stolen NFTs, a decrease of 23.79% from June’s $2.27 million and a decrease of 89% from February’s record-breaking $16.2 million.
#PeckShieldAlert In July 2023, ~$1.73M worth of #NFTs were stolen, marking a 31% decrease compared to the previous month. Within a span of 165 minutes, half of the stolen NFTs were promptly sold on various marketplaces. The percentage of stolen NFTs initially sold on @blur_io… pic.twitter.com/cknsefpfwe
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 6, 2023
PeckShield’s research focused on the monetary worth of stolen NFTs and illuminated the speedy turnaround of the hackers.
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Half of the stolen NFTs were sold on multiple online marketplaces in just 165 minutes. In the research, the platforms used for these transactions were highlighted, with Blur marketplace leading the pack with 67.3% of stolen NFTs initially sold and OpenSea coming in second with 19.63%.
NFT Zeal Is Diminishing
The drop in NFT thefts could be partly due to the drop in NFT sales over the past few months, including July.
According to DappRadar, the NFT market’s volume and revenues decreased by 29% and 23% per month. The market is struggling, as demonstrated by the fact that major collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Azuki had their lowest floor pricing in over two years.
The sharp change in the NFT market is indicated by the sharp decline in sales. The third consecutive month with trading volume below $1 billion occurred in July, when trade volumes decreased from $1.1 billion in January to $600 million.
According to data from DappRadar as of press time, Blur, a well-known marketplace, saw a 32% loss in transactions and a 44% drop in volume from the previous month, while OpenSea also saw a 25% dip in transactions within the same time frame.
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Although there were some positive indicators, the Polygon network saw a rise in trading activity in July, accounting for 27% of all deals.
The NFT community also experienced increasing concerns about financial theft and fraud. After observing an alarming increase in fraudulent operations that targeted NFT aficionados, the FBI issued a warning. It was discovered that online criminals pretended to be legitimate NFT developers in order to fraud naive consumers.
The PeckShield report claims that the decline from June to July was 31%, however, it appears the percentage was computed incorrectly.