Category: News

One of the downsides of being involved in the NFT community is being targeted for theft by scammers. Because NFTs, especially those from prized collections, can be worth a lot of money, investors are constantly dealing with people trying to steal them. 

This has happened to everyday people, top actors, business people, and everyone in between. Oftentimes, when an NFT is stolen, the chances of it being recovered are slim, with many victims simply cutting their losses and moving on. 

But recently, a Solana community banded together to pull a fast one on a scammer who had stolen some NFTs. 

The Great NFT Heist 

This saga was revealed in a May 25, 2022, Twitter thread in which a user called @worldofsolana detailed the theft and recovery of the NFTs. 

“We’re very excited to share a crazy World of Solana community story: We have successfully scammed the hacker of @UnchainedNFT_ ! Shoutout to our community, @CyberFrogsNFT and a sniper! #Solana #SolanaNFTs #NFTCommunity,” the thread started with.

It explained that a few days prior, the Discord page of Unchained NFT, a cross-chain game development platform, was hacked. During the hack, 109 users were hit, with over 150 NFTs and some Solana tokens stolen. Notably, one user had 25 World of Solana NFTs stolen at once. 

Some members of the community then devised a plan to steal back the NFTs. This included the Cyberfrogs NFT team setting the royalties for the WOS NFTs to 98%. Days later, 25 of the stolen NFTs were listed for sale on magic Eden, an NFT marketplace. 

Of the 25, 15 were bought back by the community and another 10 were sniped by a person working outside of the group. Finally, the group reached out to the sniper and explained the situation, offering them a refund of the amount they had paid for the NFTs.

The sniper accepted and the WOS NFTs were then returned to the original owner. This whole saga acts as a tale of a community coming together to pull a fast one on a criminal. 

Royalties for NFTs are usually set at 5%, meaning if it is resold, the original creators/owners get 5% of the sale value. By setting it to 98%, the group ensured that the hacker would make next to nothing on the NFTs and also reduced their value in the resale market. 

This is why the sniper (a person who buys NFTs at the very last minute) agreed to get a refund as the NFTs would not be worth much to them. 

Tales from NFT Land

The account ended the Twitter thread by urging people to be safe when minting and storing their NFTs to avoid these sorts of situations. While this is a message that has been shared among NFT users for a long time now, this saga does show how the rules can be leveraged to get one over on hackers. 

If this method is replicated by other groups of NFT owners, perhaps the industry as a whole could fight back.

It seems we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Muhammad Ali in the metaverse. Years after the legendary boxer passed away, he is being immortalized through NFTs. Earlier in May, for example, it was announced that an upcoming film based on Ali would have an NFT collection released ahead of its premiere. 

Now, Muhammad Ali is making another appearance as an NFT, this time within the context of a video game. This comes as Muhammad Ali Enterprises has announced a partnership with Altered State Machine (ASM) to create a video game called Muhammad Ali – The Next Legends. 

How the Game Will Work

As per the official announcement for the game, it will centre around users buying virtual ‘boxers’ and training them. These boxers will exist as NFTs and after players buy them, they can increase their skills through training and then have them fight other NFTs. 

As the NFT boxers play, their users will be able to increase their skills, victories, and overall worth within the gaming ecosystem. Eventually, the best-trained and most talented NFT will be declared the next legend and NFT-based successor of Ali himself. 

This new venture is being seen as a way to not only immortalize Muhammad Ali but also to deliver an exciting experience to fans. 

“We are incredibly excited and honored to welcome world-renowned icon Muhammad Ali into web3,” said ASM boss David McDonald. “ABG’s portfolio of world-leading brands make them the ideal partner to introduce NFT-curious consumers to the metaverse. Our Non-Fungible Intelligence powers and revolutionizes web3 gaming by allowing NFT owners to train their characters, producing limitless possibilities and interoperable use cases in the metaverse.”

The idea of training a virtual character is not a new one in gaming as everything from football to combat-based games employ this concept. But the addition of NFTs means that the stakes are even higher. 

As can be seen with some of Altered State Machine’s previous releases, there is the opportunity for a user to sell their NFT asset after its value within its game has increased. This means that even as players enjoy the process of playing the Muhammad Ali- The Next Legend game, they can do so with the intention of training their boxer and making a profit off them eventually. 

This simple twist transforms this from just a game to a potential business opportunity.

Limitless NFTs

When the announcement of the NFTs to be attached to the Muhammad Ali film was first made, it symbolized the boxer’s entry into the NFT space. Now, it seems that his estate plans to fully explore what can be done with Ali’s image and likeness when it comes to NFTs in many ways. 

This, of course, shows just how limitless NFTs are and the many ways they can be used to deliver an experience for fans. From limited-edition NFT drops with original art to video games to collectables for movies, NFTs can clearly be used in more ways than one.

For over 50 years, the Beatles have been one of the biggest forces in music and popular culture. Years after their disbandment, there is still massive demand for individual members’ solo projects and all things Beatlemania. 

Now, fans of the Beatles can enjoy original artwork from Sir Ringo Starr, one of the members of the Beatles. The singer has just announced a new NFT collection to be launched in June 2022, which will feature five original art pieces. 

A Piece of Ringo Starr

This new art collection is to be called  ‘The Creative Mind Of A Beatle’ and will mark Starr’s official debut in the NFT scene. Of the five pieces to be released, two will be paintings, two will be hybrid pieces, and one will be a self-portrait of the singer. 

Anyone who buys one of the pieces will receive not only the digital asset but a physical equivalent signed by Starr himself. They will also come with an audio of the singer performing an original song inspired by the piece they have bought. 

In his announcement of this collection, Starr explained that he has been involved in the art scene for years and this represents a new way to connect to fans. 

“I am excited to join this digital art community and look forward to continuing to learn and build in Web3. I’ve been doing art for many, many years, with paint, stencils, digitally, spin art… I’m honoured to be part of this community,” he said, adding that NFTs offer a way for artists to both have their own platform and control over their work.

The announcement of the collection was also made on the official Beatles Twitter account and invited users into a digital gallery experience dubbed RingoLand which will be available through the metaverse platform Spatial.

Anyone who buys any of the 20 NFTs that will be sold will be invited to meet Starr in RingoLand. The NFTs will go on sale on June 13, 2022, through Julie’s Auctions, with bids starting at $1,000. A portion of the proceeds will be going towards the Lotus Foundation, which was founded by Ringo Starr.

This collection, according to the singer, will be the first of many NFT-focused projects and has encouraged his fans to stay tuned for more announcements. 

NFTs For Beatles Fans 

For a lot of music fans, NFTs can represent a unique way to connect with their favourite artist. Starr, for example, is about to embark on a North America tour that not all of his fans will be able to attend. 

Even when it comes to physical auctions of memorabilia or artwork from a Beatles member, not every fan might be able to physically attend an auction and get their hands on prized pieces. 

But with Ringo Starr’s NFTs and the digital gallery experience that is coming with them, both Beatles fans and fans of his solo work can enjoy a once in a lifetime experience while also buying very unique artwork.

If you’ve been following the world of video games for a while, you would have probably noticed the increasing presence of NFTs in the space. From companies like Ubisoft announcing new NFT-based projects to the rise of GameFi, NFTs and gaming seem like a match made in heaven.

Now, NFL fans can get in on the magic as well as the league has announced a new partnership that will bring its NFT dreams to life. This new partnership is with Mythical games and will work towards the release of the NFL’s first NFT game called NFL Rivals. 

Details About the Game

While no official release date is currently known, some details have been made public about the incoming game. It will allow players to assemble their own virtual teams and rosters and then play against others. 

Users, who will act as the general managers of their virtual teams, can level up player skills and also collect NFTs while interacting with the gaming ecosystem. In light of this, the NFL has announced something called Rarity Leagues; NFT drops that consist of 32 limited edition NFT collections. 

Each NFT is a digital 3D asset and all are designed around the NFL. Those who hold an NFT from any of these collections will also enjoy many perks, both in the gaming world and in real life events. 

The full game is expected to be released by 2023. Given the popularity of NFTs as a whole and their increased use by sports stars, the NFL says that it hopes to deliver a brand new experience to fans. 

“With the rise of blockchain technology, we are thrilled to partner with Mythical Games on a blockchain-enabled game that delivers new play-to-own NFT capabilities, creating a new adventure for fans who love to play football games. The interest in NFTs and video gaming amongst current and prospective fans continues to grow and combined have accelerated the NFL’s exploration of new gaming models that can deliver an unmatched experience to fans,” says Joe Ruggiero, SVP of Consumer Products at the NFL. 

The ‘general manager’ gaming genre has existed for a long time and is often a way for players to put themselves in the driver’s seat of the game while still competing with others. But according to Jamie Jackson, the Chief Creative Officer at Mythical Games, the addition of NFTs helps to both raise the stakes of these games and enhance the players’ experiences. 

A Gateway to NFTs

This new marriage between sports and gaming and NFTs might just be the thing that the industry needs to secure even more adoption. As far as many people are concerned, NFTs are for the people who are heavily into blockchain or crypto. 

But if organizations like the NFL embrace NFTs and offer them to consumers in a way that is both palatable (using an NFL video game) and accessible (Mythical Games offers users custodian wallets), more sports fans might be inclined to give NFTs a try both in and out of gaming.

It’s never a fun experience when your NFT is stolen; you’re scrambling to find out who did it, you’re frantically messaging your NFT marketplace to find out if there is anything you can do, and you might even be looking towards legal action. 

If you’re actor and comedian Seth Green, however, things might be a bit more complicated than that. 

The Curious Case of the Stolen Apes

Earlier in May, it was reported that Green had some of his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs stolen. 

“Well frens it happened to me. Got phished and had 4NFT stolen. @BoredApeYC @opensea @doodles @yugalabs please don’t buy or trade these while I work to resolve,” he tweeted at the time. 

While the loss of a Bored Ape NFT, many of which run for hundreds of thousands of dollars, would be devastating in itself, this theft has put some of Green’s projects in jeopardy. Green explained in a recent interview with Gary Vaynerchuk that he had been developing a new animated series called Darkwing84.

One of the main characters in the series was to be Fred Simian, which was a representation of one of the Bored Apes that was stolen. Now, this shouldn’t be an issue. If a digital representation of one of Green’s characters was stolen, surely he could just go ahead with the show anyway?

This, unfortunately, is not quite so simple. You see, owning the Bored Ape NFT not only gave the owner the right to the NFT but its copyright as well. 

By owning the NFT, Green could use the Fred Simian character commercially. Now that the NFT has been stolen and he no longer ‘owns’ it, the copyright is gone. He can, technically, still go ahead with the show but will not be able to use the character or might face legal repercussions from whoever now owns the NFT. 

“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show. Then days before—his name is Fred, by the way—days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped,” Green said in the interview. 

Murky Waters

This whole saga is a very complicated one and is one that forces us to examine the technicalities of NFTs. Green is clearly the rightful owner of the NFTs but because they were stolen, so was his copyright. 

What happens if he goes ahead and uses the character? No one has been sued for copyright infringement using NFTs thus far but what would the legal case look like given that the NFT is stolen property? 

For now, it is not known how Greem will proceed and what the outcome will be but it does bring into scrutiny the complexities of NFTs, their safety, and the rights attached to them.

But with the recent increase in NFT-related lawsuits, perhaps we will get some clarity on the matter soon.

For years, eBay has been one of the top sites in both the collectables space and the internet as a whole. With everything from memorabilia to electronics, eBay seemingly has whatever you would think of listed for sale. Now, the site is dipping its toes into the digital collectables market by announcing its first-ever NFT collection. 

On May 23, 2022, eBay announced that it had partnered with OneOf, a green NFT  and Web3 company, to release a new NFT collection that honours top sports stars.

eBay Enters Web3 

This new collection will feature animated and 3D images of sports stars who have graced the cover of Sports Illustrated over the years and have been made available from May 23, 2022. 

According to eBay, this is yet another step towards connecting to the collector’s community online while also memorializing sports icons. 

“Through our partnership with OneOf, eBay is now making coveted NFTs more accessible to a new generation of collectors everywhere. This builds upon our commitment to deliver high passion, high value items to the eBay community of buyers and sellers,” says Dawn Block, VP Collectibles, Electronics and Home at eBay.

The first collection to be made available will feature images of the Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who has said that he feels honoured to offer this new experience to his lifelong supporters.

In total, 13 collectables are available and have been split into three tiers; green, gold, platinum, and diamond tier NFTs. Each tier has different levels of availability, with green having 299 NFTs and the diamond tier having only 15. In terms of price, the NFTs have been made quite affordable, with prices starting at $10 each. 

There has also been an emphasis on making the collection very accessible, even to non-blockchain enthusiasts. 

“We are excited to partner with eBay, the largest and most trusted e-commerce platform in the world, to introduce NFTs and the power of the blockchain to eBay’s community of enthusiasts through a dynamic, user-friendly experience,” said Lin Dai, CEO, OneOf. “You don’t have to be a crypto expert to buy, sell, and collect NFTs. OneOf and eBay are bringing transformative Web3 technology to the next 100M non-crypto-native mass consumers.”

While this collection with Gretzky is the first of its kind for eBay, there are plans to release more collections in the future featuring even more top sports stars. 

Get Your Collectables 

The collectables sector has been booming for years and few platforms have seen this more than eBay, which is often the first go-to for rare and exclusive collectable items. Now, a new frontier is being explored with NFTs. 

Unlike physical items that need to be shipped to a person’s house, for example, NFTs offer more accessibility, which is a thing that ultimately benefits the community. eBay seems to be very intentional about this, pricing the NFTs at a point that everyday people can afford and not shutting out newbies. 

Hopefully, this will be the first of many successful NFT outings for eBay.

Picture this; you’re OpenSea, arguably the biggest NFT marketplace in the world. You’re home to some of the most coveted NFT collections in the industry and one of the first names that pop up when people think of NFTs as a whole. 

After you’ve bought over other projects in the space and survived a phishing attempt, what else is there to do? Well, start a new marketplace, of course!

And this is exactly what OpenSea has done, announcing on May 20, 2022, the launch of its new smart NFT marketplace called Seaport. 

Introducing Seaport

As per the announcement, Seaport is a web3 marketplace protocol for the buying and selling of NFTs that OpenSea hopes to build on along with others. As was made clear in the statement, Seaport is not to be an offshoot of the OpenSea ecosystem. 

“OpenSea does not control or operate the Seaport protocol — we will be just one, among many, building on top of this shared protocol,” the statement says. 

So, how does this new marketplace differ from others? First, it is much more flexible in the way payments for NFTs can be made. Typically, when an NFT is listed for sale, users pay a specific amount for it in cryptocurrency. 

The most common of these is  ETH, ERC20, ERC721, or ERC1155. Usually, only one of these tokens is offered for a sale but Seaport will reportedly allow users to buy NFTs using a combination of different tokens as opposed to just one. 

Users can also create ‘mirrors’ of existing listings and then offer these in return for the original item, provided that certain criteria are met. Some have taken this to mean that NFTs can be exchanged for each other, which has caused a bit of a stir on social media.

Seaport also allows the fulfilment of multiple orders in one go through that is called a set of fulfillments. 

“Each fulfillment corresponds to a single item transfer and indicates a group of offer items that the submitter can match with corresponding consideration items. As long as each consideration item on each listing is fully credited after all fulfillments have been applied, the offerers can leverage their coincidence of wants and complete their transfers,” the announcement explains. 

Finally, tipping from one user to the other is allowed as long as the tip amount doesn’t exceed the original listing price of the NFT.

A New NFT Market

Within the announcement, OpenSea made it clear that this new marketplace is open source and that no person or organization, including them, should have a sole claim to it. Instead, the plan is for Seaport to be developed by the community. 

This includes developers creating new use cases, security breaches being reported, and the community pushing its adoption. Overall, this is a clear deviation from the typical NFT marketplace format but one that OpenSea clearly believes in. 

Along with the launch of this marketplace, OpenSea has also announced a two-week audit contest with code4rena that features a prize pool of $1 million.

While NFTs have proven to be a haven for digital artists over the years, few have found quite as much success as the artist Beeple. Not only does he hold the record for the most expensive NFT of all time with his work Everydays: the First 5000 Days but he has also scored coveted collaborations with celebrities like Madonna for her NFT debut. 

With this much success and hypervisibility, it comes as no surprise that the artist has been targeted by criminals. Just recently, his official Twitter handle fell victim to scammers running a phishing scheme. 

You’ve Been Phished 

On May 22, 2022, it was reported on Twitter and then confirmed by the artist himself that the official Beeple Twitter handle had been hacked. Following this hack, the handle had tweeted out a link claiming that it was part of a ‘raffle’ with the brand Louis Vuitton. 

Beeple has collaborated with the brand before but this link was not legitimately connected to any raffle. Instead, once the link was clicked, all the Ethereum in a user’s wallet would be stolen. Unfortunately, it seems this scheme was quite successful. 

According to Harry Denley, a security expert at MetaMask, at least $50,000 worth of Ether had already been stolen from users before the account was restored. Shortly after Beeple regained access to his account, he took to warning users not to believe such messages. 

“ugh we’ll that was fun way to wake up. Twitter was hacked but we have control now. Huge thanks to @garyvee ‘a team for quick help!!!!,” he said, adding that if an NFT deal seemed too good to be true, it probably was. Beepled also mentioned that there would never be a situation in which he announced a surprise mint only once and only on one of his social media pages.

This, unfortunately, is only one in a long list of phishing attacks that have targeted the NFT space. There have been phishing emails that have stolen millions in NFTs directly from their owners, such as with the actor Seth Green. Then there have been instances of official platforms of marketplaces and collections being compromised. 

For example, both OpenSea and the Bored Ape Yacht Club have suffered hacks this year and millions in NFTs have been stolen as a result. As this recent incident with Beeple shows, it is an ongoing problem within the industry. 

Staying Vigilant 

One peculiar thing about Beeple’s response following the hack was saying that he would never announce a surprise mint under such conditions. In many phishing attacks, users are told to click a link for s surprise raffle, free minting, and so on. 

It now seems that a clear pattern is being developed of what a phishing scheme looks like for the NFT sector. The good news is that over time, users might be able to have a clear idea of what to avoid. Hopefully, the next time an account suddenly posts a link for a ‘free mint’ users will flag it as a scam immediately.

Over the weekend, the hip hop world celebrated one of its pioneers, Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious BIG. May 21, 2022, officially marked what would have been the late rapper’s 50th birthday and served as not only a way to remember Wallace, who was gunned down at the age of 24 but also as a way of preserving his legacy into the future. 

Fans of the Notorious BIG now have even more reason to celebrate as it was announced that a new metaverse ecosystem would be released that memorializes the rapper and also lets fans ‘interact’ with him.

This comes just months after it was announced that an NFT collection would be released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of his passing. 

Back to Life

This new metaverse will be called ‘The Brook’. Named after the rapper’s hometown of Brooklyn, the Brook will feature a digital rendering of the Notorious BIG as, well as other staples of metaverses like events and digital locations. 

Those who want to interact with the metaverse need to set up accounts on the official website for the Brook. Once they have done this, they will be able to attend virtual events like concerts, trade NFTs, and even buy real estate.

The Brook can be accessed on desktop or mobile devices and there are also plans to incorporate VR headsets into the mix at some point.

In the years following his death, the Notorious BIG has retained his status as a hip hop icon and a pop culture fixture. There continues to be public fascination about his life and death, as well as demand from fans for all things Notorious BIG. 

With this new metaverse project, his estate is hoping to help fans connect even more to the rapper. 

As his mother, Voletta Wallace has said in a statement, “Technology continues to create opportunities that are beyond one’s imagination and I’m excited that we are stepping into the future with a beautiful rendition of a hyperrealistic avatar of my son Christopher. I’m thankful for our wonderful team of creative partners for their work to deliver Biggie into new media for his fans to enjoy.”

To bring the digital image of the Notorious BIG to life,  Remington Scott, the CEO of Hyperreal, drew inspiration from images and videos of the rapper when he was alive. The result of this is a hyperrealistic digital rendering that this new metaverse project is hoping can offer fans as close of a connection as possible. 

Metaverse Life

One of the most fascinating parts of NFTs is the way in which they can be used to power the metaverse. 

The metaverse, on the other hand, is fascinating because of its limitless potential. There seems to be so much we can do with it in terms of interaction. From its humble beginnings, we now see ourselves attending concerts, forming communities, and yes, even bringing late hip hop legends back from the dead.

Bella Hadid; supermodel, global celebrity, activist and now….NFT entrepreneur? It would seem so as the model announced on May 20, 2022, the release of her first metaverse NFT project. 

Hadid has already fronted many high-profile projects in the past, such as with Versace and Alexander Wang. But this new venture is the model’s first foray into the digital world. 

This also puts Hadid in a fast-growing club of celebrities who have released NFT projects. This group includes Snoop Dogg and the Chainsmokers and now represents not only a new source of income for celebrities but also a way to connect with fans. 

Modelling in the Metaverse

As per an official announcement on Hadid’s social media, this new collection is called CY-B3LLA and consists of 11,111 unique NFTs. each of these assets represents a scan of the model herself. 

Those who buy the NFTs will gain access to a digital community that the model is looking to curate within the metaverse. They will also have access to in-person events around the world, including meet and greets with Hadid herself in about 10 different locations. 

“I’ve co-founded this collection because these aren’t just NFTs – they’re invitations to a new global nation. Each NFT features different& unique 3-D scans of me, thought up with you in mind, that will be utilized around the world; designed to encourage travel, community, growth, fantasy and human interactions,” the official announcement says. 

The official video announcing the project features a digital projection of the model along with a tagline referring to 11,111 ‘unseen’ hearts and spirits, alluding to the NFTs to be sold as part of the collection.

Hadid also explained that this new community she is developing is in a bid to foster “peace, love, compassion and meaningful connections” in an ever-changing and difficult world. 

Those interested in the NFTs can sign up on the official CY-B3LLA website for the NFT whitelist. The theme of a community can be seen throughout the official announcement and is becoming even more prominent overall throughout the NFT space.

Clearly, this is not intended to be a one-off cash grab for the supermodel but instead, a long-term community building and fan engagement project. 

“That’s just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll grow this new meta-nation with real locations and events all around the world, where I can meet each and every one of you,” she says. 

(Virtual) Meet and Greet

As we have seen with previous NFT drops like this year’s Coachella, these digital assets can serve as a passport of entry to online and real-life spaces. Naturally, this means that they can easily be leveraged to form communities around shared ideas. 

For example, certain Discord pages and closed online groups are only available to those who hold NFTs from certain collections. When this is applied to celebrity culture, fans can easily connect to themselves online and in real life and, in the case of CY-B3LLA, meet their favourite celebrity as well.