The Singapore High Court has granted permission to the financial investigation firm, Intelligent Sanctuary (iSanctuary), a UK-based entity, to integrate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into a unique approach to addressing a cyberattack.
This initiative involves the attachment of NFTs, housing a legal document, to cold wallets that are associated with the aforementioned hack, as reported by iSanctuary and corroborated by local media sources.
This process involves the tokenisation of a court-issued global freeze order, wherein the freeze order takes the form of "soulbound" NFTs and is firmly linked to the specific wallets under scrutiny.
iSanctuary's Involvement
According to iSanctuary, this marks the first instance where a court has endorsed this novel method for the purpose of serving notice and tracking assets through the utilisation of NFTs associated with distinct blockchain addresses.
The NFTs in question encapsulate the intricacies of a global freeze order obtained by iSanctuary, pertaining to the cyberattack and valued at a staggering $3 million.
iSanctuary pointed out in its website:
"The on chain and off chain evidence was presented by an iSanctuary senior investigator to the Singapore High Court and the worldwide injunction, a first issued by that court, was granted. iSanctuary financial and crypto investigators identified a series of cold wallets holding the proceeds of the crime and their method of service via NFT was accepted by the court."
It is worth noting that these NFTs do not directly inhibit transactions involving the wallets; instead, they serve as a salient advisory to counterparties and cryptocurrency exchanges that the subject wallets had been implicated in a security breach.
Additionally, iSanctuary asserts that they have developed a mechanism to monitor funds leaving these wallets, a feat made feasible through the integration of the NFTs, which are irrevocably linked to the wallets.
iSanctuary has detailed on its website the circumstances of their engagement, indicating that a businessperson who lost $3 million in cryptocurrency assets sought their assistance and ultimately facilitated the successful tracking of the stolen funds.
Subsequently, the firm marshalled compelling evidence and presented it to the Singapore High Court, resulting in the issuance of a worldwide injunction.
Unfortunately, no further particulars regarding this case have been disclosed.
Who Produced These NFTs?
Furthermore, iSanctuary identified Mintology, an application developed by the Singaporean NFT studio Mintable, as the creator of the NFTs, a detail indirectly confirmed by Zach Burks, the founder of Mintable, in a communication on X (formerly known as Twitter).
According to a report in The Straits Times, the case in question pertains to the theft of a private key, with a twist of Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchanges unwittingly participating in the laundering of the pilfered funds by individuals fraudulently representing themselves as being based in Singapore.
The scope of the case extends across multiple countries, spanning from Singapore to Spain, Ireland, Britain, and several other European nations.
iSanctuary founder Jonathan Benton was quoted:
"This is a game changer; it can happen in hours if needed. We can serve on wallets and start to police the blockchain, identify those holding illicit assets, serve civil or criminal orders, even red flags."
Hui Xin