Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Iran's judiciary: 935 people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Knesset committee votes to advance impeachment of Arab MK Ayman Odeh.
TASS: Car explosion east of Moscow, ambulances rush to scene.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Over 10 martyrs and several wounded as Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers on al-Tina Street, southwest of Khan Younis
A vehicle exploded in Washington, DC, the United States.
The Israeli occupation forces are carrying out extensive air raids on eastern and northeastern Gaza.
Israeli media: One Israeli soldier killed in a "security incident" in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip
Israeli media: Intense exchange of fire in Khan Younis
Israeli media platform reports on a tough incident in Gaza still under media censorship
Iran's judiciary says 71 killed in Israeli strike on Evin Prison

Artists sound alarm with NFT crimes on the rise

  • By Al Mayadeen net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 29 Jan 2022 17:28
  • 2 Shares
4 Min Read

Corporations are having difficulty policing stolen work.

  • x
  • Artists sound alarm as NFT crime spreads
    Companies face challenges monitoring stolen art (DW)

Last year, the market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, skyrocketed, reaching an estimated $22 billion.

These digital assets are created as one-of-a-kind digital assets on a blockchain and are available for trading in bitcoin. According to artists, the largest NFT platform, OpenSea, is doing much too little to prevent the trafficking of fake art. It places a large portion of the duty of monitoring art fraud on the artists themselves. DeviantArt, a decades-old online community for digital artists that holds half a billion pieces of digital art, is now screening 4 million newly minted NFTs each week for fraud.

In a statement, OpeanSea disclosed that it is against their policy to sell NFTs using plagiarized content, detailing that it was developing new picture recognition and other techniques to swiftly identify stolen material and protect artists, aiming to debut some of these in the first half of this year.

Tina Rivers Ryan, a curator and digital art expert at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, says blockchain makes it easier to commit forgeries because all it takes is a right-click. "How do you sue the anonymous holder of a crypto wallet? In which jurisdiction?" she asks.

One huge mess

Aja Trier, a Texas-based artist claims to have uncovered 87,000 NFTs based on photos of her work for sale on an online auction platform, many of which are valued at $9.88.

Related News

Kenya approves 'digital superhighway' to boost Internet connectivity

UN official: World to mitigate digital technology risks in conflict

500 entries of her stolen work were posted in a single night, implying that the crime was automated and carried out by bots.

Trier and several other artists indicated that tweeting aggressively about the matter or contacting media outlets was the most successful approach to convince the corporation to remove their stolen work.

At least 37 NFTs based on Trier's stolen work were purchased before OpenSea removed the fake ads, according to Trier, and she has yet to receive any of the money, despite the fact that OpenSea takes a 2.5% fee on each sale.

“It seems to me that they’re making some money on illicit behavior,” Trier said. “They have a $13bn valuation and they’re trying to go public. How much of their valuation is from stolen art?”

According to Ashli Weiss, a Silicon Valley intellectual property lawyer who works with blockchain businesses, there is now little motivation for OpenSea and other marketplaces to remedy the problem because of their earnings.

OpenSea refuted her claim and a spokesperson said the issues must be addressed head-on. More than half of the firm's existing employees work full-time or extensively on plagiarism and content moderation concerns, and the company is creating "smart moderation" techniques to speed up the company's reaction to allegations of plagiarism.

While some artists would want to see a crackdown on bots, OpenSea stated that generating hundreds or thousands of NFTs at once is common for the space, citing 10,000 "Bored Apes" and over 8,000 "Pudgy Penguins", two of the most renowned and financially successful NFT collections.

Van Baarle, a Dutch digital artist, stated that OpenSea's mechanism for reporting art theft had improved slightly over the past year, replacing an old "report" button with a reporting form that easily and clearly logged the fraud. However, she says the corporation could still do more to check NFT validity before the token is offered for sale.

Van Baarle adds that though the concept is supposed to be about authenticity, “it looks like the opposite,” adding, “from where I’m standing, it looks like one huge mess of theft and fraud and inauthenticity."

  • Digital Technology
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Art fraud
  • Cryptocurrency
  • NFT

Most Read

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a protest following the US attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

Iran declares victory as ceasefire forces Israeli retreat

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
Iran launches strikes on Israeli targets, despite alleged ceasefire

Iran victorious as ceasefire with 'Israel' takes effect

  • Politics
  • 24 Jun 2025
Iran says targeted US Qatar air base under Op. Annunciation of Victory

Iran says targeted US Qatar air base under Op. Annunciation of Victory

  • MENA
  • 23 Jun 2025
Gaza

7 Israeli soldiers killed in double ambush by Gaza Resistance

  • Palestine
  • 24 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Women comfort each other by a vehicle that was burnt overnight by Israeli settlers in an attack that killed three Palestinians and burnt several vehicles and damaged homes, in Kafr Malik, east of Ramallah, Thursday, June 26, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Settlers shoot and assault Palestinians in Hizma, Masafer Yatta

Syria's interim leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, walks in the presidential palace ahead of a meeting in Damascus, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP)
Politics

Syria open to al-Sharaa-Netanyahu meeting at UN assembly

Former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks with media at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 31, 2024 (AP)
Politics

'Israel' failed to topple Iran, lost 12-day war, Larijani says

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP)
Politics

War on Gaza failed to achieve objectives in Gaza: Israeli media

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS