In brief
- NFT marketplace OpenSea is changing its tactics around assets that are reported as stolen.
- Users have complained about OpenSea’s policy, which some allege punishes users who inadvertently purchased previously-stolen NFTs.
With NFT scams on the rise, Web3 platforms are increasingly forced to grapple with identifying and managing stolen assets. As the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea has borne the brunt of this Web3 responsibility, but its policy of blocking flagged assets has received considerable backlash, especially for punishing users who didn’t know that they were buying stolen NFTs.
In response, OpenSea announced on Twitter on Wednesday that it will change the way it handles NFT assets that are reported as stolen.
OpenSea would previously block stolen assets from being bought, sold, or transferred on its platform as it investigated each case, which meant an indefinite hold on accessing such NFTs and their respective worth.
Tweeting that it wanted to “address the elephant in the room,” OpenSea wrote that it will now require a police report to be submitted within seven days of flagging an NFT as stolen. The marketplace notes that it has done this in the past for “escalated disputes,” but that it will now be required for all NFTs that are reported to be stolen.
The move is designed to prevent false reports. If a police report isn’t submitted in time, then the hold on the items will be lifted.
Furthermore, OpenSea says that it will simplify the…
