Losing $100 or $200 hurts, but what about losing $500,000??
In today’s crypto industry, a single coin is present on different blockchains; for example, the most popular stable coin, Tether (USDT), is currently available on more than seven blockchains, so users need to be especially careful when selecting appropriate blockchains while transferring coins. If you send tokens to the wrong address, you can lose them forever,
An Ethereum user has made a similar mistake and Lost over $500,000 worth of Ethereum.
The user basubadelmevt shared his mistake and experience on Ethereum Subreddit so that that community can learn something from his mistake. Basubadelmevt mistakenly sent a massive sum of ETH to Wrapped Ether’s (WETH) contract.
Basubadelmevt wrote a post with Title, “Did I just lose half a million dollars.”
“Sent ETH to WETH contract and got WETH back (after some googling, I found this is how the contract works). I assumed it works the same way backward and sent WETH back to the contract. No ETH back. You have to use a frontend to get the ETH back. ETH lost forever.
Replying to a comment, basubadelmevt said:
“Thanks, strangers. I am happy to see lots of kind-hearted people in the comments and chat. This is a significant amount of money for anyone to lose, and it was the case for me as well. I was under the stress of some other things in my life and made a bigger mistake by making assumptions in this wild early technology. But, I will be OK.
He further wrote that it was a life-changing lesson for him
“ I am also sorry that this was a negative event for the perception of cryptocurrencies. The last thing I would want in this world is A life-changing lesson for me, but definitely, something to work on as a community as well.”
The crypto community laboriously reacted to the user’s loss; one user said that there should be a solution for such mistakes if crypto wants to become mainstream:
“Losing a half-million dollars worth of crypto by mistake is something that needs to be addressed before crypto can become mainstream. When it’s this easy to lose everything, there’s no way your grandma is going to be using it.”
Another user said that there has to be some different when dealing with private keys and smart contract addresses:
“Dealing with private keys and smart contract addresses directly is some pretty low-level sh.t, let’s be honest. Mainstream crypto adoption means smart wallets + social recovery + intuitive UIs and (for better or worse) third-party custodian solutions. There’s no way this kind of irreversible mistake will be possible for the average person unless they go out of their way to do it.”
Disclaimer: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic’s opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
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