OpenSea Amends Policies to Safeguard Users, Takes Steps to Tacke NFT Theft Situations Better

OpenSea, the online marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), is making amendments to its policies to safeguard its users against the thefts of digital collectibles. The platform has decided to involve police officials in theft cases of all magnitudes, rather than only on cases with escalated disputes. The company has also decided to take measures to simplify the re-sale and re-purchase of stolen items once recovered. The small but significant changes that OpenSea is introducing in its existing frameworks is based on the feedback of the NFT community, members of which suffer when they lose their NFTs or mistakenly purchase those stolen by scamsters and find themselves in legal troubles.

OpenSea, going forward, has decided to re-enable the sale and purchase of stolen NFTs if a police complaint is not registered about the incident within seven days of it happening.

“We're making it easier for users who reported an item stolen to re-enable buying and selling when they recover the item or determine they should withdraw their stolen item report. For example, we're finalising details on a simplified process that doesn't require a notary,” the marketplace founded in December 2017 revealed to its 1.8 million followers on Twitter.

In a series of tweets, OpenSea admitted that the user-trust on the platform has been damaged after certain cases of NFT thefts led to legal consequences for their next buyers and holders.

“It is against the US law to knowingly allow the sale and transfer of stolen items. We do not want to incentivise theft by allowing our platform to be used to help sell stolen items. In some cases, the purchaser who unknowingly bought a stolen item at no fault of their own was inadvertently penalised. This is one of the most difficult issues we face. Please believe we take it seriously and we've been actively listening to your feedback on how to tackle it,” OpenSea added.

The platform is looking to automate threat and theft detection, such as blocking suspect URLs earlier.

OpenSea claims to be the largest NFT marketplace in the world. In recent times, the platform has attracted hackers and crypto scammers on its platform.

Earlier in July, OpenSea suffered a data breach after an employee at the platform's email delivery partner – Customer.io – leaked user data.

In February, the platform lost hundreds of digital collectibles in a phishing attack and incurred losses worth $1.7 million (roughly Rs. 12.5 crore).

In recent times, several popular NFTs from series like Yuga Labs and Moonbirds were struck by hack attacks.

“We care deeply about enabling users to operate safely on our platform. Allowing the sale of stolen items and operating with stolen goods is no sign of a healthy ecosystem but neither is a lack of trust from those of you who got us here. Doing better begins w/ sharing & listening more. We're committed to improving at both. Thank you for your feedback,” OpenSea noted.