A savvy NFT trader, Hanwe Chang, has reportedly profited 800 ETH, equivalent to nearly $1.5 million, by outsmarting a bot that was mirroring his NFT bids. He exploited this observation by listing his NFTs at inflated prices, which the bot subsequently purchased.
In a post on social media platform X over the weekend, Hanwe Chang explained that he noticed a bot was replicating all his bids on Blur, an emerging NFT marketplace. This platform has recently surpassed OpenSea in terms of trading volume, establishing itself as the leading marketplace.
Hanwe Chang stated, “Noticed that someone’s bot was copying my bids on Blur, so I decided to trick him… Made 800 ETH profit thanksss.” Alongside this, he showcased a screenshot depicting 12 NFT transactions from the Azuki collection, each sold at a price of 50 ETH.
For context, Azuki is a newly launched NFT collection that garnered close to $40 million during its initial phase.
Placed bids on his own NFT sale
Hanwe Chang’s revelation and accompanying screenshot on X (previously known as Twitter) ignited a flurry of conversations within the NFT community, especially given the stark contrast between Chang’s 50 ETH sale and the most recent similar NFT trade fetching only 5 ETH.
Etherscan, which provides on-chain data, confirms that Chang consolidated the 12 NFTs into a single Ethereum wallet. The proceeds from this strategic trade were subsequently transferred to a wallet tagged as hanwe.eth.
Piecing together the events, A-Raving-Ape.eth, a user on X, laid out a probable sequence of events: Chang strategically placed bids on NFTs he already possessed, anticipating the bot would mimic his actions. Leveraging this predictability, Chang seemed to have manipulated the bot into purchasing his NFTs at grossly inflated prices, driven up by his own bidding antics.
Highlighting the significance and craftiness of Chang’s strategy, the user commented, “This is an epic case of [player versus player] in the current NFT trading market.”
Another voice in the community concurred with the prevailing understanding of Chang’s maneuver but raised a cautionary note. They emphasized that Chang’s celebratory tweet might be remembered infamously, stating that the tweet “will go down as the dumbest of all time.”
The individual pointed out that what Chang appeared to be admitting to — “Bid Spoofing” or “Shill Bidding” — is not just a grey area in trading but can be classified as illegal market activity, potentially falling under the categories of Fraud or Wire Fraud.
This serves as a reminder that while the digital frontier offers a myriad of opportunities for traders, it’s crucial to navigate these spaces with an understanding of legal and ethical considerations.
