Bored Ape Yacht Club, a popular collection of non-fungible tokens, gets hacked and owners of the valuable simian NFTs lose millions.

bored ape yacht club hacked

To say that NFTs have begun to stir up controversy in the video gaming world would be putting it mildly. Some people see the technology as a moneymaking opportunity while others consider it another form of monetization that will only hurt the industry and gamer’s wallets. Even prominent game companies have come out staunchly on both sides of the debate, with Konami selling memorial NFTs to celebrate the anniversary of Castlevania and Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic issuing a statement against the tech.

One of the most prominent NFT collections is called Bored Ape Yacht Club, or simply Bored Ape. Launched in April 2021, the collection consists of 10,000 unique digital avatars built on the Ethereum blockchain. In the year since its introduction, numerous celebrities like Stephen Curry, Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Eminem have purchased some of the ape avatars and shared their acquisitions on Instagram. Bored Ape has also launched two other collections, Bored Ape Kennel Club and Mutant Ape, which are worth significantly less.

Ironically, Instagram happens to be one of the apparent weaknesses of Bored Ape and non-fungible technology in general. On April 25, a hacker or hackers managed to get access to the Bored Ape Instagram account and posted a link promising a free allotment of land in an upcoming Bored Ape MMORPG metaverse called Otherside. This wasn’t necessarily suspicious behavior because Bored Ape gave away free Mutant Ape NFTs when that collection launched in August 2021. Alas, the Instagram link was merely a phishing scam, and people who unwittingly clicked on it and connected their crypto wallets had their Bored Ape NFTs stolen.

Bored Ape immediately removed all links to Instagram from its platforms; OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, put a “suspicious activity” label on the stolen apes. That hasn’t hindered the hacker, however, who simply went to another marketplace and has already begun selling off the loot. According to Bored Ape, the Instagram hacker got away with a total of 13 NFTs. Others estimate that the number is closer to 50 or even 100, comprising Bored Ape, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and Mutant Ape NFTs. Due to uncertainty about the numbers, it’s estimated that the hacker got away with a haul worth between $2.57 and $13.7 million, or more.

Being contained solely in a digital space makes NFTs and cryptocurrency particularly vulnerable to hackers. Just last month, an NFT game called Axie Infinity fell victim to one of the largest decentralized finance hacks to date when a group of hackers stole $625 million from Ronin Network, the Ethereum-linked blockchain platform the game was founded upon. The vulnerability of NFTs in general has even supporters of the technology feeling uncertain. With companies like Ubisoft promising more NFT games in the future, players should be aware of the potential strengths and weaknesses of the tech before investing large sums.

MORE: Ubisoft’s NFT Initiative Crashing and Burning is the Best Case Scenario

Sources: CNET, CoinDesk

grand theft auto 5 protagonists

Grand Theft Auto Leaker Says This is the First Image of GTA 6

Read Next

About The Author

Pam K Ferdinand (508 Articles Published)

A long-time fan of survival horror, RPGs of all kinds, and shooters, Pam will try any genre except sports. Favorite series include Silent Hill, God of War, Far Cry, and the Souls games. In her spare time, Pam also dabbles in foreign languages, watercolor painting, and reads way too much fantasy, sci-fi, and horror.

More From Pam K Ferdinand