Mr. Chapman, a former college basketball player, started experimenting with crypto last year. He bought a Bored Ape for a few hundred dollars, and later traded it for the ape in astronaut gear because it evoked the space age history of Houston, his hometown. He started wearing a Bored Ape sweatshirt, and his mother-in-law bought him an ape-branded water bottle.
In September, Mr. Chapman listed his space ape on OpenSea, setting the price at 90 Ether. Three months later, he raised the price to 269 Ether, or about $1.1 million, in line with the skyrocketing value of other Bored Ape NFTs. He was planning to sell the NFT for enough that he could immediately buy another, less valuable space ape and pocket any profits from the trade.
In February, the ape sold for the original listing of 90 Ether, or roughly $300,000. Savvy traders had exploited a glitch that allowed them to activate out-of-date sales listings on OpenSea.
On Feb. 18, Mr. Finzer announced that OpenSea had updated its technology to prevent thieves from reactivating old listings. The company reimbursed some victims, asking them to sign nondisclosure agreements in exchange for payouts.
Mr. Chapman said OpenSea had initially offered him a refund of just the 2.5 percent fee it received when his space ape was sold. Last month, he said, OpenSea increased its offer to 15 Ether, or a little under $30,000 at today’s prices, after his lawyer wrote to the company. OpenSea declined to comment on his case.
Mr. Chapman is holding out for a bigger reimbursement. As the owner of a Bored Ape NFT, he would have been entitled to a large share of ApeCoin, a cryptocurrency that was launched in March. Ape NFT owners each received a chunk of coins worth more than $100,000 at the time.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/technology/nft-opensea-theft-fraud.html
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