SuperRare, an Ethereum-based Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, was hit with an exploit on Monday. According to on-chain securities firm PeckShield, the hacker stole $730,000 worth of the platform’s native token, $RARE. That is, about 12.4 million units out of its 1 billion fixed supply.
Notably, the exploit had no significant effect on $RARE. It has followed the general market movement, dropping by just 2% over the past 24 hours. It has increased by over 12% within the past 30 days.
$730,000 Lost to Exploit
Shedding more light on the notice PeckShield released, LISA, an AI-backed security firm, explained how the hack occurred via a post on the X social media platform, noting that it was a result of a vulnerability in the updateMerkleRoot function of some smart contracts, including SuperRare.
🔥 Critical Security Alert: Unauthorized Merkle Root Updates in @SuperRare Smart Contracts! 🔥
A severe vulnerability has been detected in the updateMerkleRoot function of certain smart contracts, allowing anyone to modify the Merkle root. This flaw can lead to fraudulent claims…
— LISA (@AgentLISA_ai) July 28, 2025
Notably, the vulnerability could allow individuals or entities to modify the Merkle root and submit false or unauthorized token claims. Thus, the hacker(s) capitalized on this to carry out the illegitimate transaction, draining about $730,000 from the system.
Meanwhile, the SuperRare team has not publicly acknowledged the exploit or noted an update to its system to prevent such an incident from recurring.
Address Dumps $66M Pudgy Penguin NFT
As the crypto market surges, some investors have turned attention to NFTs. Consequently, according to CoinGecko, the NFT market capitalization increased by 13.5% to $5.78 billion, marking its highest point in the past six months.
A key contributor to this value jump is increased activity with Pudgy Penguins, the second-largest Ethereum digital collectible. Its floor price saw a 15$ surge to 16.75 ETH, approximately $64,400. Its Solana-based token, $PENGU, has also been on the high side within the past few weeks.
However, the uptrend has been shortened, as on-chain data shows that over the past 24 hours, the PENGU token deployment address has transferred approximately 206.9 million $PENGU, worth $8.91 million, to different centralized exchanges (CEXs). Basically, transactions to a CEX are a sign of an incoming token sale.
Notably, over the past 16 days, the address has moved approximately $ 2.1 billion worth of $PENGU, valued at over $66 million, to multiple CEXs. Meanwhile, according to data from CoinMarketCap, the token trades at around $0.042 and still maintains a market capitalization of $2.63 million.
