Creator of Mutant Ape NFT Knock-Off Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
In this week’s newsletter, we bring you some significant updates from the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). One notable news is the guilty plea of the creator of a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) knock-off, who has been charged with fraud. Let’s dive into the details!
Creator of Mutant Ape ripoff NFTs pleads guilty to $3 million fraud scheme
Aurelien Michel, the creator of the Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection, which imitated the popular MAYC collection by Yuga Labs, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a New York federal court. Michel confessed to defrauding investors of $3 million and performing a rug pull, where they failed to deliver on promises made to their investors and diverted the proceeds for personal gain. Michel now faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
OpenSea NFT users report massive email phishing campaign
Users of the popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea, have recently fallen victim to a massive phishing email campaign. Attackers impersonating OpenSea have been sending out malicious emails containing harmful links. Although OpenSea has assured its users that there was no hack, a developer claimed to have received a phishing email, suggesting that some developer contacts may have been compromised. It’s a reminder for all users to remain cautious and vigilant when dealing with online platforms.
Bitcoin transaction fees flip Ethereum’s as Ordinals hype returns
The average daily transaction fee for the Bitcoin network has surpassed Ethereum as the market has shown renewed interest in Bitcoin Ordinals. Bitcoin Ordinals is a tool used to create NFT-like assets and BRC-20 tokens. This surge in popularity has led to an increase in Bitcoin transaction fees, with the average daily fee reaching $10.34, while Ethereum stood at an average of $8.43. The community has created over six million Bitcoin Ordinals assets since October 24, resulting in approximately $30 million in BTC fees being redistributed to the network.
Game distributor G2A opens gaming-focused NFT marketplace
G2A, a well-known digital game distributor, has entered the world of NFTs by launching its own gaming-focused NFT marketplace. The company aims to expand its offerings by delving into Web3 games. G2A has been closely following the development of blockchain gaming since the Cryptokitties era and believes that many players are already familiar with and involved in blockchain gaming.
That’s all for this week’s NFT news roundup. Stay tuned for more updates and insights into this rapidly evolving space.
