Token Thieves Mint Hundreds of Illicit NFTs in Radical Heist

There’s been an art theft of NFTs!

Yesterday, an attacker stole tokens from a DAO called Bright Moments and used them to mint the remaining 309 NFTs involved in the organization’s flagship project, CryptoVenetians. The project announced on Discord that one of their members fell victim to a phishing attack which exposed their private key.

#827 was one of the NFTs that emerged from the heist.

In response to the hack, the CryptoVenetian team recommended that no one purchase the NFTs beyond the last legitimate mint, number 691, saying that the stolen assets will not be included in the project’s roadmap.

The project had an emphasis on the physical world. CryptoVenetians were supposed to be minted only by visiting the Bright Moments gallery in Venice, California. Visitors would receive Bright Moments BRT tokens, which they could then use to mint their NFT on the ArtBlocks platform.

IRL? Not Today

In stealing the BRT tokens, the attacker bypassed this IRL step.

“Today was a rollercoaster of emotions, both exciting and heartbreaking” the holder of CryptoVenetian 132 told The Defiant. “I think what’s most saddening is the reaction from waitlist folks who have been harsh and demanding to the Bright Moments team.”

Indeed, people who had appointments to go to Bright Moments gallery to mint their CryptoVenetian in the coming months, were frustrated. “I took two days off work, flew in to LA yesterday and booked [a] hotel in Venice for my appointment today at 3:30,” said Directive Creator on Discord. “I would like to get a little more info than the fact that you[‘re] making the stolen CVs inactive.”

The project has announced, though, that they will be working with those who had appointments set up to make sure they can participate in the community in-person in another way. The details of this are not yet decided, but a CryptoVenetian team member indicated that a physical minting experience in New York City is on the docket for Fall.

Buying Back In

It’s not all bad news — the attack may even add to the lore of CryptoVenetians, which the project’s site says are based on real characters from Venice Beach.

“Today I sold my CryptoVenetian after the hack,” tweeted NFT fanatic Debussy. “Then after seeing how the team dealt with the situation and how there is only a supply of 691 now, I decided to rebuy it.”

The project’s floor price — the lowest price for a CryptoVenetian — had been crawling up throughout August before the illicit mints. At one point, the floor hit 10 ETH, before cruising back down to 6.9 ETH, the day before the hack, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard.

Since the attack, the floor price for CryptoVenetians has rebounded to 6.5 ETH. This is likely because people are no longer buying 692 though 999 editions on the cheap as word has spread about the illegitimate minting.