To me, it still feels like the correct amount of money.
NFTs are one of the most contentious topics in technology right now, and for good reason. Artificial scarcity in digital spaces appears to be all the rage right now, and for some reason, exchanging jpegs on the blockchain for ridiculous sums of money is just as popular as it has always been. However, mistakes can still be made, even if they are caused by user error, and this is how one NFT-rader received fractions of a cent for a rock image worth closer to $1 million.
The crypto world can be difficult to navigate. There are a plethora of currencies, strange apes, incomprehensible environmental consequences, and general bewilderment. Many game developers have openly labeled NFTs as a scam. The authenticity of crytpo can be so terrible that Steam discovered that more than half of bitcoin transactions on their platform were fake. It's a dangerous crypto world out there, and even crypto bro NFT enthusiasts aren't immune.
Reported by Vice, Dino Dealer on Twitter is one such crypto trader that recently made the simple error. When marketing their prized EtherRock NFT, they inadvertently listed it for 444 gwei rather than 444 eth. This is the difference between receiving nothing and receiving around $1 million USD. When it was offered for the low cheap price, it was promptly purchased by a bot for the equivalent of someone whispering "money" from at least 100 kilometers away.
Dino Dealer tweeted about the incident, appealing with the snipers to show mercy at the end. They also emailed the bot's owner, asking for a re-do, but have received no response. Because this is all blockchain, everyone can see and smile at the transaction if they so desire. Given that it's a simple jpg of a rock, it appears like the bot received roughly what it paid for.
How's your week?
— Rock dust 😭 (@dino_dealer) March 10, 2022
Mine? I just erroneously listed @etherrock #44 for 444 wei instead of 444 eth🤦♂️
Bot sniped it in the same block and trying to flip for 234 eth
In one click my entire net worth of ~$1 million dollars, gone
Is there any hope?
Am I GMI?
Can snipers show mercy? pic.twitter.com/yq9Itb2Ukb
EtherRock is a classic example of a non-fungible token (NFT). It's a sequence of images of the same clipart rock with color variations, similar to the famous Ape images you've probably seen, but it's literally just rocks. Alternatively, you could rock. The same stone. One of them was sold for $3.5 million USD. Worse, because it's only a digital jpg, you can't even hit your head against one.