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Source: OpenSea
Investors in a non-fungible token (NFT) project known as Evolved Apes were left in the dark after the anonymous developer behind the project disappeared with ETH 798 (USD 2.9M) in project funds.
The developer, who goes by the pseudonym “Evil Ape”, had said in the past that the NFT collection is part of an upcoming fighting game with the monkeys. However, the game has not yet come to fruition and the developer has disappeared, according to a report from Vice.
Along with Evil Ape and the sale proceeds of $ 2,9 million, the official Twitter account and website of the project also disappeared, which could not be accessed at the time of writing.
Ethereum (ETH) blockchain data shows that the Evolved Apes wallet currently has a balance of 0 after four separate transactions on September 24 leaked the money into two new wallet addresses.
The Developed Monkey NFT Collection is described on NFT Marketplace OpenSea as “a collection of Unique NFTs trapped in a lawless land.” Listings were still available on OpenSea at the time of writing, with asking prices starting at ETH 0.005 (USD 18) for the cheapest pieces.
Meanwhile, and positively, crypto researcher Messari reported this week that the NFT market has exceeded a total of USD 10bn in secondary sales.
The figure was shared by Messari Research analyst Mason Nystrom, where he also said that over the past 12 months, the NFT mArket has “evolved from a small ecosystem with a few hundred million sales volumes to a multichain ecosystem worth tens of billions of dollars.”
According to Messari’s data, NFT sales peaked around August 21, which coincided with the buzz around NFT collections such as Loot, Axies, and various profile picture NFTs. However, daily revenue still remains above USD 50m, the company said.
