NFTs Worth $100M Reported Stolen Over Past Year: Elliptic

Thefts in May 2022 topped the list in in terms of value with 3,473 NFTs worth $23.9 million stolen.

By Jamie Crawley

Aug 24, 2022 at 3:01 p.m. UTC

Updated Aug 24, 2022 at 3:36 p.m. UTC

Crime scene (Gerd Altmann/Pixabay) — (Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)

Jamie Crawley

Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.

Follow @JamieCrawleyCD on Twitter

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) worth $100.6 million were reported stolen over the 12 months ending in July, according to a new report by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

Thanks to crypto winter, the value of stolen NFTs topped out in May at $23.9 million, and then tumbled to just $5 million in June and $3.9 million in July. The volume of thefts, however, continues to rise – from 3,473 in May to 3,712 in June and then to 4,647 in July.

Elliptic also found that over $8 million worth of illicit funds has been laundered through NFT-based platforms since 2017. Meanwhile, a further $328.6 million was laundered through services like crypto mixers.

Tornado Cash, the mixer recently sanctioned by the U.S., was the source of $137.6 million of crypto assets processed by NFT marketplaces.

London-based Elliptic is an analytics firm that provides the blockchain industry with compliance and anti-money laundering software.

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