Facepalm: The world of NFTs is a strange one, which is about the nicest thing you could say about it. Take, for example, the case of a clipart-based image of a rock that was apparently valued at over $1 million but accidentally sold for less than a cent.
EtherRock is a collection of 100 NFTs, each slightly different from the other. They’re similar to many collections, but unlike, say, Bored Ape Yacht Club, the variations between images of the clipart rock cover nothing more than their shade of color.
Vice reports that Twitter user Dino Dealer listed his valuable EtherRock NFT for sale, but instead of pricing it at 444 ETH, which is just over $1 million, he accidentally put it up for 444 Wei. One Wei is the equivalent of one quintillionth of an ether: it’s essentially worthless—even 444 of them is still less than $0.00000000.
How’s your week?
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
— Rock dust 😭 (@dino_dealer) March 10, 2022
Not surprisingly, the EtherRock was sniped by a bot, and the new owner relisted it for a lot more than the nothing they paid for it: 234 Ether, or around $600,000. Dino Dealer pleaded with the lucky person in a comments section to get his NFT back but received no reply beyond scammers trying to offer “refunds” if he called their WhatsApp number or sent them an email.
This is a story that’s all too familiar. In December, the owner of a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT lost almost $250,000 after selling it for the incorrect price. That person typed 0.75 Ether—worth around $3,999 at the time—when listing his non-fungible instead of 75 Ether, or $300,000.
While these sorts of incidents can be attributed to user error, there are other risks associated with NFTs, including buying fakes and falling victim to hackers.
Image credit: Peter Döpper