Magic Eden Investigates Possible Exploit After NFTs Move for 0 ETH

The website Magic Eden has been accused of having a potential contract exploit following some irregularities in transactions involving several thousand NFTs being traded for 0 ETH, but an account that took part in the irregular transaction has said it was a white-hat operation. The NFT trader known as Cirrus made the initial report on September 25, saying sales of NFTs from Magic Eden could be seen and suggesting the Magic Eden contract could have been exploited. At the time of writing, Magic Eden had not provided a statement about any exploit, leaving the nature and scale of the incident unclear. 

Magic Eden Had Ended EVM Marketplace Support Earlier This Year

Immediately following the alert, X pseudonym Quit claimed that the activity was a white-hat mission. According to Quit, any assets stored at 0x71cf3f5724bD2B72Ef6464992aCd26216DE7fe33 are secure and will be returned as soon as they are deemed at risk. Magic Eden has not verified that the wallet address is linked to a legitimate whitehat or that the transactions were part of an organised recovery effort. Information about the vulnerability that made the transaction possible, the number of wallets involved, and the total value of NFTs transacted remains undisclosed.

The unique activity on the Ethereum NFT occurred months after Magic Eden modified how its marketplace operates. According to documentation provided by Magic Eden, EVM marketplace support terminated on March 9. The firm stated that any listings, bids, and offers made on the EVM marketplace will be off-chain and not accessible once the shutdown happens.

The marketplace continues to support the Solana marketplace, while its existing products are Packs that may include NFTs from Ethereum collections. According to Magic Eden, NFTs revealed in packs can be traded on the marketplace. There is no statement yet made by Magic Eden about how the reported activity on September 25 has impacted any of its services or contracts on its EVM marketplace.

The reported activity comes with a broader increase in the frequency of attacks targeting crypto protocols this year. The second quarter of 2026 is already the most hacked quarter on record in terms of the number of attacks, with 83 hacks of crypto protocols, per analysis from market insights provider Unfolded based on data from DefiLlama. KelpDAO's $293 million (roughly Rs. 2,797 crore) hack and Drift Protocol's $280 million (roughly Rs. 2,652 crore) exploit were the largest incidents of the quarter.