The Bored Ape Yaught Club is one of the most popular NFT collections of the year. Without any doubt, they are responsible for the hype surrounding this new kind of crypto asset. Big names like Steph Curry, Post Malone, and Jimmy Fallon are a part of it. At the moment, the entry fee is 52 ETH or $210,000, the lowest price to become a part of the prestigious Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Hence, it comes as a shock to know that someone accidentally sold their valuable possession for a mere $3,066 on Saturday.
We witness plenty of unusual trades, such as $530 million NFT, indicating shady deals within the ecosystem. However, the cause behind the strange transaction on Saturday was nothing but a “fat-finger error”, occurring when someone makes an online trade with the wrong item or the wrong amount. Maxnaut, the owner of the NFT, wanted to list his Bored Ape for 75 ETH but mistakenly listed it for a hundredth of the intended price. His NFT was available for only 0.75 ETH.
The buyer purchased without delay and paid an additional $34,000 to expedite the transaction. He took all measures to ensure that no one else bought it before him. It seems that a bot carried out the transaction. The owners can program such bots to buy NFTs on their behalf when the price is below a certain level to benefit from the trade.
Max acknowledged that people must be wondering what happened? It was a lapse in concentration, as every day, he has to make a long list of things. His attention was compromised, but he noticed the mistake as soon as he clicked the mouse button. Unfortunately, it was too late as a bot sent a transaction of over 8 ETH in gas fees. It all happened so fast that he couldn’t cancel, and $250k was gone.
Such mishaps have also happened in traditional finance, but the authorities can control them if alerted on time. Since cryptocurrencies and NFTs are decentralized, it is up to the buyer to reverse the transaction. Within the last few years, many fat finger mistakes have made headlines in crypto trades. In 2019, the company behind Tether, a cryptocurrency backed by USD, created $5 billion worth of new coins accidentally.
Similar events can be seen in the NFT market since the collections have grown in value over the past year. A Crypto Punk NFT was sold for $19,000 instead of 19 million because of a small error. A Bored Ape NFT was sold for $26,000 back in August, and the opportunist buyer resold it for $150,000
Mistakes are bound to happen as the industry is relatively new. One can only forget and move on when you have no control over the situation.
