Bored Apes Co-Founder Criticizes Discord After NFTs Worth 200 Ethereum Snatched in Exploit

A co-founder of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection yesterday lashed out at Discord after its server was exploited and NFTs worth 200 Ethereum ($358,962) were stolen from users. 

Gordon Goner on Saturday wrote on Twitter that Discord, a chat app popular with the crypto community, “isn’t working for Web3 communities.”

“We need a better platform that puts security first,” he added.

BAYC acknowledged the exploit on Twitter, adding, “The team caught and addressed it quickly.”

Yuga Labs, the team behind the NFT collection, said it was investigating the incident. But others in the crypto community said the hack was the fault of BAYC Discord users. 

“Don’t blame Discord for users getting socially engineered, having DMs open and clicking phishing links,” wrote analyst OKHotshot. “Use the tool correctly first before blaming it.”

While developer Cory.eth, who founded NFT collection OpenAvatar, added that users “just need to use the technology better.”

BAYC is a very sought-after collection of quirky ape profile pictures minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Rich and famous people like Eminem, Madonna, and billionaire businessman Mark Cuban have all snapped them up.

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are deeds of ownership for digital items, and they're being used by some to help revolutionize the art and music worlds.

Owners of Bored Apes have access to an exclusive Discord channel where they can discuss the NFTs.

But Saturday’s exploit wasn’t the first time attackers leveraged BAYC’s social media channels. Just last month, BAYC’s official Instagram account was hacked, and thieves stole a total of $2.8 million by sharing a link to a scam website that pinched NFTs from users’ wallets.