Investors in Evolved Apes, a recently launched PFP — curt for profile picture — nonfungible token (NFT) projection, are grappling with the disappearance of the project'southward anonymous developer.

Going by the moniker "Evil Ape," the developer has allegedly lived up to the name by vanishing with 798 Ether (ETH) worth over $2.7 million from the projection'southward coffers.

The reportedly stolen funds covered both the money realized from the initial minting process and the ETH traded in the secondary sale of the NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace.

Indeed, "Evolved Apes" had been i of the hyped NFT mints recently, with the 10,000-stiff collection reportedly selling out in 10 minutes and the floor toll rising steadily following the swift sale.

However, the project's storefront on OpenSea shows a tanked floor cost of 0.005 ETH, significantly lower than the original minting price. The turn down in the flooring price is no doubt linked to the current rug pull scandal rocking the project.

Autonomously from allegedly siphoning all the projection's money, Evil Ape also took down the "Evolved Apes'" Twitter business relationship and website.

Before absconding with the $ii.7 million, Evil Ape and the project's creators had promised to ship a blockchain fighting game, a common promise among several avatar-manner NFT developers.

Some members of the community have come together to continue the development of the projection nether the umbrella of "Fight Back Apes."

The entities backside the new faction say they wish to create a more than community-centric operating model for the project, including a multisig wallet, to prevent the repeat of another Evil Ape debacle.

Related: NFT whale 'Pranksy' pranked past fake Banksy for 97.7 ETH

With Evil Ape even so receiving the 4% royalties on secondary sales, the current programme is to create a new project that volition airdrop new NFTs to electric current holders.

NFTs have arguably dominated soapbox in the crypto space in 2022, with massive platforms such as OpenSea recording massive trading volumes.

Given the popularity of NFTs, information technology is perhaps unsurprising to run across declared rogue actors like Evil Ape attempting to con unsuspecting victims.