In a surprising turn of events, the NFT community seems to have gotten a reprieve from NFT thefts following a report by Peckshield which revealed that NFT thefts have dropped by 31% in July.
NFT Thefts on The Decline
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have experienced notable declines this month, and according to a Twitter report released by Peckshield, an industry-leading blocking security firm, the number of NFT thefts in July 2023 has also decreased significantly compared to the previous month in June.
The report revealed a decrease of 31% in July and a staggering 81% drop from February 2023 till the present. In July, $1.73 million worth of NFT assets were stolen, while February, labeled the worst year for NFT theft, saw an astonishing $16.2 million worth of NFTs stolen.
According to Peckshield’s report, a large percentage of NFTs stolen in July were quickly sold. In just over two hours, half of the stolen NFT assets were transported to NFT marketplaces and sold for an equivalent amount of money.
67.3% of the stolen NFTs were sold on blur.io, an NFT marketplace on the Ethereum mainnet. While 19.63% were sold on the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, and over 10% were sold on the X2Y2 NFT marketplace.
#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
So far, over $40 million worth of NFTs have been stolen in 2023, leading the NFT community to be constantly vigilant. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently made a public service announcement warning the NFT community of the rising financial cyber attacks on the community. They also urged victims to report suspicious activities and fraudulent personnel to help control and lessen the amount of NFT scams.
NFT Sales Dwindle
While the decrease in NFT thefts has brought relief to NFT investors and digital collectors, the notable drop in NFT cyber-attacks may be attributed to the dwindling sales and wavering market sentiment. NFTs have become a less profitable investment as compared to previous months and in late 2020 when NFT popularity and profitability were at their peak.
As such, industry analysts speculate that a decrease in NFT sales and demand has influenced its profitability, resulting in a decline in NFTs thefts. According to reports from CryptoSlam, a global NFT multi-chain data aggregator, NFT sales volume plunged about 40% in the previous month. Global sales have been monotonous and daily sales which were at a peak of $22 million in early July, have dropped significantly to $13 million.
Additionally, NFT trading volume has also seen its fair share of decline, declining by 29% in July. Earlier this year, in January, NFT trading volume boasted a staggering $1 billion. In contrast, the amount was almost halved in July, as trading volume decreased to $600 million.
There have also been considerable shifts in sales and trading patterns of popular NFT collections like Yuga Labs, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Crypto Punks.
Total market cap continues to struggle at $1.12 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on Tradingview.com