Key Takeaways:
- Timothy McKimmy who lives in Texas and unintentionally sold his Bored Ape NFT for 0.01 ETH roughly $26 is suing OpenSea.
- He’s alleging that OpenSea was aware of a bug that allowed hackers to purchase NFTs at far below market value.
- He claims in a federal court in Texas that he is the rightful owner of Bored Ape #3475.
- He claims he did not list his Bored Ape for sale and that the NFT was “stolen”. He even claimed that the “buyer” promptly resold his NFT for 99 ETH.
Timothy McKimmy, who lives in Texas and unintentionally sold his Bored Ape NFT for 0.01 ETH, roughly $26, issuing OpenSea. He’s alleging that OpenSea was aware of a bug that allowed hackers to purchase NFTs. The NFTs were purchased at far below market value. He claims in a federal court in Texas that he is the rightful owner of Bored Ape #3475. Bored Ape #3475 is one of a set of 10,000 highly coveted primate NFTs. These NFTs are known as the Bored Ape Yacht Club. He claims he did not list his Bored Ape for sale and that the NFT was “stolen”. He even claimed that the “buyer” promptly resold his NFT for 99 ETH.
According to McKimmy, the ape in question is in the top 14th percentile for rarity and is far rarer than the Bored Ape NFT Justin Bieber recently purchased for $1.3 million. He is suing for “return of the Bored Ape and damages above $1 million.” McKimmy, listed as the CEO of a Texas iron ore company on LinkedIn, claims that OpenSea was aware of the bug. It was widely reported in the media but refused to halt trading to maximise profits.
The complaint stated that “Instead of shutting down its platform to address and rectify these security issues, Defendant continued to operate. As a result, the defendant risked the security of its users’ NFTs and digital vaults to continue collecting 2.5% of every transaction uninterrupted”. According to him. He has tried numerous times to resolve the issue with OpenSea. He claims the company told him it is “actively investigating” the incident but hasn’t done anything else.
McKimmy is not alone in this situation. OpenSea has issued approximately $1.8 million in refunds to users affected by the exploit in January. It is unclear how the company is handling reimbursements and determining refund amounts. McKimmy’s complaint cites chatter in NFT forums alleging that OpenSea has approached other victims of the bug and offered them the “floor price” (the lowest-priced asset in any given NFT collection). OpenSea offered the victims floor price even if their specific NFT is worth more. Furthermore, the offer was only applicable if they signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Other lawsuits could be filed in response to the one filed on Friday. A law firm in the northeast is seeking complaints from other OpenSea customers who lost NFTs due to the bug. The law firm is seeking complaints to file a class-action lawsuit. McKimmy claims that one goal of the lawsuit is to force OpenSea to tighten its security practices.
