Note that lawsuits in the NFT world are not a new phenomenon. For example, in December 2022 it became known about a lawsuit whose authors wanted to hold celebrities liable. We are talking about Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon and Madonna, who are allegedly responsible for advertising NFT-projects misleading people.

They were involved in promoting the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, with Jimmy Fallon revealing he even had a matching token during his own show. The relevant announcement took place at the end of this video.

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT representative

The current cause of action, however, is not an advertisement for NFT. The plaintiff in this case does not doubt the prospects of the non-interchangeable token industry, but he is unhappy with the actions of representatives of the OpenSea platform.

What the OpenSea platform is accused of

In an interview with Cointelegraph, the digital asset lover claimed that his NFT was stolen in a phishing attack, which he immediately notified OpenSea tech support. However, the treatment of the customer was inappropriate. Here is his rejoinder to the situation.

It took them more than 48 hours to respond, by which time the stolen assets had been sold as the buyer had significantly underestimated their value, prioritising speed over value.

One of the stolen tokens

OpenSea also blocked the victim’s account to prevent further damage. However, according to Akres, this was not what he asked for. He has repeatedly asked the platform representatives to unlock the tokens, but they have been ignored. Moreover, the investor claims that OpenSea required him to perjure himself in order to unlock his account.

The crypto-enthusiast has estimated his losses at $500,000, which is the amount of compensation he is demanding from OpenSea.

Whether intentional or accidental, OpenSea’s actions caused me significant financial losses because I am an active Web3 investor.


Note that large losses on NFT tokens are not a new topic. The day before, Kevin Rose, the founder of Moonbirds, was a victim of hackers. The well-known crypto-entrepreneur and investor lost 40 tokens worth a total of $1.1 million due to a phishing operation. The most expensive NFT is valued at $500,000.


Lawyer Enrico Schaefer, who heads the plaintiff’s legal team, believes this situation is not an isolated incident. He confirmed that he has encountered similar problems before. Here is the relevant rejoinder.

I have spoken to several people who have had their NFT accounts stolen or their OpenSea accounts hacked, and I represent them. In some cases, OpenSea admits its mistakes and compensates the account owner. In other cases, OpenSea simply ignores the problem.

When asked about the problem, an OpenSea representative told reporters the following.

The theft in question occurred outside of OpenSea and the NFTs were sold before OpenSea became aware of the incident. Shortly after we received the notification, we disabled the NFT move and the user account was unlocked.

OpenSea platform logo

As a reminder, on August 11, 2022, OpenSea introduced a new policy on stolen NFTs, which involved the use of police reports. Most interestingly, even then, some users on Twitter complained that the platform simply ignored their claims of missing tokens.

That said, NFT failures have happened before. This week, for example, fans of non-interchangeable tokens were disappointed by Porsche representatives. The latter launched a new collection in honour of the 911 car, but put too high a price tag on the token. As a result, the launch essentially failed, because the creation of the maximum number of tokens was not even close. Read more about the story in a separate article.

Details of Porsche’s NFT collection on the OpenSea platform


We think the prospects for this lawsuit are unclear. While the actions of OpenSea's support may indeed have thwarted the cryptocurrency enthusiast, the company's representatives will certainly not be responsible for the successful phishing attack. Consequently, the topic of possible compensation for such significant damages remains highly questionable. The final outcome of the dispute will traditionally be determined by a court.