Azuki

Hackers takeover Azuki’s Twitter account, steal over $750K in less than 30 minutes

The majority of the funds stolen were from a single wallet which had $751,321.80 USDC drained from the malicious link.

Azuki, a popular nonfungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised on Jan. 27 leading to hackers stealing over $750,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) by posting a malicious “wallet drainer link” posed as a virtual land mint.

Hackers stole $751,321.80 USDC from a single wallet within half an hour of the malicious links being tweeted, according to Etherscan data provided to Cointelegraph by crypto wallet security firm Wallet Guard.

The data also revealed that hackers stole a further $6,752.62 worth of USDC from various wallets holding 11 NFTs and over 3.9 Ether (ETH).

Wallet Guard stated that the total amount stolen was $758,074.42.

Emily Rose, community manager for the anime-inspired NFT project confirmed via Twitter on Jan. 27 that the Azuki account was hacked, warning users not to click any links from Azuki’s Twitter account.

Azuki’s head of community and product manager Dem explained on a Twitter Space hosted by Wallet Guard on Jan. 27 that scammers were able to “post a wallet drainer link,” after gaining control of Azuki’s Twitter account.

Dem urged users to “stay safe and stay suspicious” while the team attempted to regain control of the account.

Several hours later Azuki stated that it had regained control of its Twitter account via a tweet:

This was confirmed by Rose and Dem retweeting the announcement.

Liz Yang, head of growth at Chiru Labs, the company behind Azuki, told Cointelegraph that the team is “currently in contact with Twitter and investigating the breach,” noting that Azuki “will provide an update once we have more information.”

Related: Hackers take over CoinDCX Twitter account, promote fake XRP ads

Ohm Shah, co-founder of Wallet Guard, told Cointelegraph that “it does not matter” if an account is official or verified, users should treat everything as suspicious until proven otherwise. Shah noted:

“Don’t be the first person that clicks the link. It’s better to be paranoid in Web3 than not.”

Upon Azuki regaining control of the account, it emphasised to its followers in a tweet to always “go out on several channels” to confirm announcements.

It also noted to reach out to the Azuki “mod team” on Discord when in doubt.

This news comes after stock trading platform Robinhood’s Twitter account was compromised on Jan. 25.

The hackers pushed Robinhood’s followers to each pay $0.0005 for a token called “RBH” on the BNB Smart Chain.

Conor Grogan, the head of product business operations at Coinbase, tweeted that at least 10 people had purchased approximately $1,000 worth of the scam token before the tweet was removed.

Hackers take over Azuki’s Twitter account, steal over $750K in less than 30 minutes

Most of the funds stolen were from a single wallet, with $751,321.80 in USDC drained from the malicious link.

Azuki, a popular nonfungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised on Jan. 27, leading to hackers stealing over $750,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) by posting a malicious “wallet drainer link” posing as a virtual land mint.

Hackers stole $751,321.80 in USDC from a single wallet within half an hour of the malicious links being tweeted, according to Etherscan data provided to Cointelegraph by crypto wallet security firm Wallet Guard.

The data also revealed that hackers stole a further $6,752.62 worth of USDC from various wallets holding 11 NFTs and over 3.9 Ether (ETH).

Wallet Guard stated that the total amount stolen was $758,074.42.

Emily Rose, community manager for the anime-inspired NFT project, confirmed via Twitter on Jan. 27 that the Azuki account was hacked, warning users not to click any links from Azuki’s Twitter account.

Azuki’s head of community and product manager, Dem, explained on a Twitter Space hosted by Wallet Guard on Jan. 27 that scammers were able to “post a wallet drainer link” after gaining control of Azuki’s Twitter account.

Dem urged users to “stay safe and stay suspicious” while the team attempted to regain control of the account.

Several hours later Azuki stated that it had regained control of its Twitter account via a tweet:

This was confirmed by Rose and Dem retweeting the announcement.

Liz Yang, head of growth at Chiru Labs, the company behind Azuki, told Cointelegraph that the team is “currently in contact with Twitter and investigating the breach,” noting that Azuki “will provide an update once we have more information.”

Related: Hackers take over CoinDCX Twitter account, promote fake XRP ads

Ohm Shah, the co-founder of Wallet Guard, told Cointelegraph that “it does not matter” if an account is official or verified and users should treat everything as suspicious until proven otherwise. Shah noted:

“Don’t be the first person that clicks the link. It’s better to be paranoid in Web3 than not.”

Upon Azuki regaining control of the account, it emphasized to its followers in a tweet to always “go out on several channels” to confirm announcements.

It also noted to reach out to the Azuki “mod team” on Discord when in doubt.

This news comes after stock trading platform Robinhood’s Twitter account was compromised on Jan. 25.

The hackers pushed Robinhood’s followers to each pay $0.0005 for a token called “RBH” on the BNB Smart Chain.

Conor Grogan, the head of product business operations at Coinbase, tweeted that at least 10 people had purchased approximately $1,000 worth of the scam token before the tweet was removed.

Nifty News: OpenSea dominance fades, Azuki skateboards fetch $2.5M and more

The largest NFT marketplace is facing headwinds from its competition as OpenSea sees its market share slip while its rivals gain significant ground.

OpenSea’s dominance begins to waiver

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has seen its competitors chomping at its ankles this year as they gain market share — turning the market from a “monopoly” into an “oligopoly,” a new report states. 

Binance Market Pulse released on Oct. 20, says there has been a slow and steady change in market leadership, noting that while OpenSea is still the dominant marketplace in terms of users and volume, Ethereum-based exchanges X2Y2 and Looksrare have been gaining their share of the market over 2022. 

The report also pointed out that OpenSea is facing stiff competition when it comes to Solana-based NFTs, its most used native marketplace Magic Eden is a “close second” to the multichain OpenSea exchange.

OpenSea’s market dominance in terms of volume peaked in May 2022 but has seen a decline since. Image: Binance

It comes amid a possible sea-change across NFT marketplaces.

On Oct.14, the Solana-native NFT market Magic Eden opted to introduce optional royalties on its platform, following a similar move by the Ethereum-based marketplace X2Y2 in August.

It noted that the “market has been shifting towards optional creator royalties for awhile.”

Binance’s Q3 report added that Ethereum overall still dominates, holding 65% of the NFT volume market share at the end of the third quarter, but NFT buyers may be moving blockchains in search of profits or following the latest trends.

The data also shows Solana’s NFT sales volume increased by 13% in Q3 and Ethereum’s dropped by 16% since the end of the second quarter.

Record-breaking bids on first wave of “Physical Backed Tokens’

The Azuki NFT project has broken the record for the most expensive skateboard ever sold, with the highest bid for a limited-edition 24-karat gold-plated skateboard fetching 309 Ether (ETH), or $400,000. 

A total of eight skateboards were sold through its new Physical Backed Token (PBT) technology, netting the project a total of $2.5 million worth of ETH.

The highest bid far surpassed the previous record holder, the over $38,000 “Blowin’ in the Wind Skateboard” created by skateboarder Jamie Thomas which included handwritten lyrics from singer Bob Dylan.

It was the first time the project implemented its Physical Backed Token (PBT) technology standard.

PBT is a token standard created by the project that uses a cryptographic chip to authenticate ownership of a physical item, generating an NFT in a user’s crypto wallet after its scanned with a mobile phone.

MLB players union seeks NFT licensing manager

The union representing all Major League Baseball (MLB) players appears to be looking at expanding its members’ presence in Web3 as it looks to hire a licensing manager to help expand its portfolio across NFT, the metaverse, digital games and augmented and virtual reality technology.

The job posting by the MLB Players Association states that “NFTs, the Metaverse, wearable technology, and AR/VR are part of our expanding business model,” with the role requiring the person to create “strong relationships” with “crypto projects.”

A major role of the MLB Players Association is assisting sponsors seeking to associate their brand or product with players. The association holds the rights to license and use the names, nicknames, likenesses and other indicating information of MLB players for use to that end.

Warner Bros launches NFT-gated exclusive films

Entertainment company Warner Bros is looking to use NFTs to distribute exclusive content and films after announcing on Oct. 20 that it partnered with Web3 firm Eluvio to launch its NFT-backed “WB Movieverse.”

The “movieverse” is essentially Warner Bros-owned films available online using NFTs as authentication for users to access the film along with related exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes videos and images.

The first offering in its movieverse sees a 4K resolution extended edition of one of its Lord of The Rings titles, along with bonus material made available through two tiers of NFTs. 

Related: Magic Eden defends launch of NFT royalty enforcement tool

The sold-out upper tier of 999 NFTs was priced at $100 but now sees an average listing price of $2,500, according to the official secondary listings page, while the lower tier of 10,000 NFTs is priced at $30.

Warner Bros has delved into the NFT space before, recently licensing characters from its DC Comics-owned properties to pop culture brand Funko to sell Walmart-exclusive NFTs.

More Nifty News:

Metaverse casino Slotie has been hit with multiple cease and desist orders from state-level authorities in the United States who allege Slotie hasn’t registered as a broker-dealer, failed to provide the proper disclosures as a gambling platform and consider its NFTs to be unregistered securities.

Ethereum-based NFT marketplace Rarible upgraded its platform on Oct. 20 adding an aggregation tool that allows users to browse and purchase Ethereum NFTs from other marketplaces such as Rarible, OpenSea, LooksRare, X2Y2 and Sudoswap.