Kevin Rose Loses $1 Million in Stolen NFTs

In a shocking turn of events, Kevin Rose, co-founder of Moonbirds creator Proof, had over $1 million worth of NFTs stolen from his Ethereum wallet on Wednesday. The incident, which Rose confirmed via a tweet, saw 40 NFTs taken from his krovault.eth wallet, including 25 Chromie Squiggles from the Art Blocks project and a valuable Autoglyphs NFT from original CryptoPunks creator Larva Labs.

According to a postmortem thread shared by Proof VP of Engineering Arran Schlosberg, Rose was “phished into signing a malicious signature that allowed the hacker to transfer a large number of high-value tokens.” Schlosberg explained that the hacker had used phishing to trick Rose into revealing his private key. The attacker sent an email that appeared to be from a legitimate source, in this case, a hardware wallet provider, and requested that Rose confirm his private key to ensure the security of his account. Once Rose entered his private key, the hacker could access his Ethereum wallet and transfer the NFTs to another address.

Schlosberg explained that the attack was a “classic piece of social engineering, tricking [Rose] into a false sense of security.” He emphasized the importance of being cautious when receiving emails or messages requesting personal information or private keys. He urged users to double-check the message's source before providing sensitive information.

The stolen assets have since been flagged by OpenSea, meaning they cannot currently be sold on that particular marketplace. However, that does not limit the ability to transfer the NFTs or try to sell them via another platform. To recover the stolen NFTs, Rose and his team are in contact with anti-fraud teams from OpenSea and hardware wallet maker Ledger, as well as other key players in the NFT community, and “are considering all avenues, including legal.”

This incident highlights the importance of being vigilant and taking the necessary precautions to protect your digital assets, especially as the value and popularity of NFTs continue to grow. It also serves as a reminder that while NFTs may be digital, they are still valuable assets and should be treated with the same care as physical possessions.