PriMera Scientific Engineering (ISSN: 2834-2550)

Comprehensive Review

Volume 8 Issue 4

NFTs as Instruments of Investigation and Sources of Novel Cybercrimes

Shuq Hussein*

April 02, 2026

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Abstract

In March 2021, a digital artwork titled Every day: The First 5000 Days sold for $.9 million on Christie's auction site. The question is, what made it special? Spicailly, it was not a physical canvas, but it is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), a unique digital asset recorded on the blockchain platform. Just 2 years prior, the NFT trade volume was around $ 90 million. In 2022, that number had grown to $17 billion, according to one report by NFT marketplace OpenSea [1].

This meteoric expansion was fuelled by cultural mania, digital scarcity, and speculation. Yet as NFTs amazed the art community and crypto investors, they also caught the interest of another crowd—cybercriminals.

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