Bill Murray ETH Wallet Hacked

A few weeks ago, actor Bill Murray unveiled his debut NFT collection, the Bill Murray 1,000. This project would see the actor sell NFTs relating to his many life stories and extensive career in Hollywood. Just recently, an NFT from the collection was auctioned for around $185,000, with the funds to go towards treatment for a three-year-old girl battling health problems. 

Now, only a few days later, a digital asset wallet associated with the project was targeted in an attack and around $175,000 in WETH was taken. The news was confirmed by associates of Murray who are close to the project. 

Details About the Hack

According to Gavin Gillas, who is involved in Venkman, Murray’s blockchain firm, this was first noticed when two separate unauthorized transactions took place, with 108.03 WETH and 1.73 WETH being removed respectively. 

These represented the proceeds from the charity sale and their theft was a blow to the project. Interestingly enough, almost 800 NFTs were also stored in the wallet and were part of the 1,000 that were minted for the collection and some assets from other collections. The thief did not steal those at all. 

“Some bad actors stole money out of Bill Murray’s wallet—money intended for a three-year-old with a life-threatening condition,” John Resig, the CEO of The Chive, an entertainment website supported by Murray, said to Decrypt. 

After the theft was realized, the team filed a police report, engaged the services of blockchain firm Chainalysis, and also informed Coinbase NFT, the platform that the NFTs are being sold through. 

While nothing has been confirmed just yet, there are theories of how the thief could have gotten access to the wallet. This mostly centres around the wallet unknowingly interacting with a malicious link disguised as a legitimate transaction. Then there are suspicions that a Venkman employee’s computer might have been hacked and entry gained from there. 

Regardless of what the point of entry was, the theft has taken place and Venkman is trying to move forward. In an inspiring move, the runner-up in the initial bid for the NFT donated 120 ETH to replace the funds that were stolen and it has been agreed that if the funds are recovered, they will still go towards the girl’s treatment. 

In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been set up to recoup the last $25,000 needed for the treatment. 

“When you’re faced with adversity, you can you can take [it] standing up or lying down. Given the nature of this theft, we decided not to sweep this under the rug. We need to be as transparent as possible about what happened,” said Resig said. 

The Cost of a Hack

There are many NFT and crypto hacks reported on a weekly basis but this one is particularly disturbing given the intended purposes of the funds that were stolen.

Fortunately, some recovery has been made and should the GoFundMe hit its goal, a full recovery of the funds can be made.