In a remarkable turn of events, the security team at Binance has successfully retrieved a portion of the funds lost by renowned crypto influencer NFT God in an earlier exploit this year.
Taking to Twitter on a Thursday, NFT God expressed his gratitude, announcing that Binance’s security team had returned a fraction of the $150,000 worth of digital assets he fell victim to in an attack perpetrated by Russian hackers several months ago.
“9 months ago, members of a Russian mob hacked my computer and stole $150,000 of digital assets,” he recounted. “Today, a portion of that was returned to me by the security team at Binance.”
NFT God further disclosed that Binance had been diligently tracking the Russian hackers for an extended period, gradually recovering the pilfered assets as the criminals attempted to move them across various platforms.
“I’m honestly moved to tears thinking about this,” he added.
This saga began in January when NFT God, also known as Alex, encountered a severe security breach, losing access to his NFTs and social media accounts. He inadvertently clicked on a sponsored Google Ads link, which turned out to be malware. This malicious software allowed hackers to gain unauthorized access to his accounts.
The attackers managed to steal 19 ETH and a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT valued at 16 ETH, among other NFTs. Subsequently, the stolen funds were funneled and converted into unknown tokens on the Fixed Float, a decentralized exchange.
The day following the wallet depletion, Alex discovered that his Substack had been compromised. The hackers sent phishing-laden emails to his 16,000 subscribers, jeopardizing his relationships with his community, friends, and family. “My Twitter, Substack, Gmail, Discord, and wallets were all invaded and taken over by bad actors,” he lamented at the time.
Amid this episode, the NFT market has experienced a significant downturn, with record-low trading volume and declining floor prices. According to a report by Alchemy, NFT trading volume plummeted by 29% to $632 million in July, while token sales fell by 23% to $3.7 million.
Further exacerbating the challenges faced by the emerging NFT market, disputes between traders and digital collectible creators have escalated due to controversies surrounding royalties. Several leading NFT exchanges, including Blur and OpenSea, opted to reduce royalty rates paid to artists when ownership of a token changes hands. This decision aimed to stimulate more buying and selling within a market that witnessed trading volumes plummet by 95%, declining from $17 billion in January 2022.
Royalties, which once reached a peak of $269 million in January, have since dwindled to a mere $4.3 million in July, as the rates paid per transaction decreased from as much as 5% to a mere 0.6%.
