OpenSea, the popular NFT marketplace, has been the victim of theft since NFTs started to surge in popularity last year.
For more than a year, frauds and stolen funds have been a recurring problem that leaves people drained of their assets or their works stolen and sold off.
As a result, OpenSea has been working on improving their platform. They recently came up with a new policy.
While the policy is meant to help them, it seems to only make things more complicated for the victims.
Previous policy
In the past, the platform would put a temporary hold on access to stolen NFTs and their associated value.
In the meantime, OpenSea would investigate the case and prevent the purchase, sale, or transfer of the stolen asset on its platform.
Read also: OpenSea Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce in a Tweet by CEO & Co-Founder David Finzer
OpenSea’s announcement
Last Wednesday, OpenSea posted that it is modifying how it manages NFT assets reported missing.
On Twitter, OpenSea wrote:
“Our policy is designed to keep our community safe, but we know in some cases its side effects have damaged your trust in our platform. We’ve failed to proactively and transparently communicate the rationale behind our approach.”
“We’re in this together: as we work to make our users safer, it’s on us to keep you in the know.”
“So why do we have this policy? It is against US law to knowingly allow the sale and transfer of stolen items. We do not want to incentivize theft by allowing our platform to be used to help stolen items.”
The policy
According to their announcement, users that have had their works or NFTs stolen and sold on OpenSea will have to file a police report to have it removed from the site.
Doing so prevents apparent “false reports” to avoid punishing people who accidentally buy stolen NFTs.
“We’re expanding the ways we use police reports,” OpenSea tweeted.
“We’ve always used them for escalated disputes, but they’ll now be used to confirm all theft reports.”
“For all reports going forward, if we don’t receive a police report within seven days, we’ll re-enable buying and selling for the reported item. This change will help prevent false reports.”
Read also: OpenSea to Add New Features to Strengthen the Platform’s Security
Result
The announcement divided people’s opinion.
For some, the idea of calling the police to report a stolen NFT comes across as a laughable option.
NFT enthusiasts are relieved to see change happening, especially with so many NFTs locked due to theft reports.
With the policy in place now with many other NFTs available for purchase on OpenSea.
It remains to be seen how the police–not just in the United States but all over the world–will respond to such calls.
References:
Stolen NFT police replaced by OpenSea’s updates
Stolen NFTs will have to be reported to the police to be removed from OpenSea
