OpenSea to return $1,8 million to users who lost NFT due to an exploit

Fixing the “inactive listing” issue is a top priority for the company

29.01.2022 - 09:15

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What’s new? The OpenSea NFT marketplace reimbursed 750 ETH (about $1,8 million) to users affected by the platform’s bug. An “inactive listing” exploit allowed tokens to be bought at old, underpriced prices. One of the unscrupulous users made 340 ETH from this, Fortune reports.

The Fortune material

How does the exploit work? Previously, the OpenSea users could not select an expiry date of the auction, so their NFTs had to be manually removed from the auction. These actions required a gas fee, but the users found a loophole. If they transferred a token from one of their wallets to another, the listing disappeared in the user interface.

But in reality, the lot simply went from “active” to “inactive.” And such lots can still be bought through direct interaction with smart contracts. So the experienced users could buy NFTs at the old low prices.

What did OpenSea do? The company advised users to check and cancel their “inactive” listings immediately. The users were unhappy, as the commission for withdrawing the lot was as high as 15 ETH.

OpenSea refunded the affected users the money they had spent on gas or lost because of the exploit. OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah stated: