It’s not uncommon to lose money on typos. Probably not tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands. If only it weren’t for a missed decimal point this weekend, when a Bored Ape NFT was unintentionally sold for $3,000 rather than $300,000.
NFT owner Max (or maxnaut) put the NFT up for sale on Saturday, as first reported by CNET. “Solo-traveler, bored ape, marketing agency owner and NFT investor,” Max had intended to price the NFT at 75 ether (about $300,000), but he unintentionally wrote 0.75 ether (about $3,000) instead. The NFT had already been purchased by a bot programmed to search for and purchase undervalued listings before they had a chance to fix the error. The NFT’s OpenSea page has live coverage of the action.
“WHAT HAPPENED? I’d say it was due to a Lapse in Concentration
What happened?” “It was probably a momentary slip of focus,” Max told CNET. “I was putting a lot of things on my to-do list every day, but I wasn’t paying attention.” An issue occurred as soon as my finger pressed the mouse, but before I could click cancel, an automated bot sent a transaction with gas fees of over 8 eth [$34,000] thus it was promptly sniped before I could cancel, and just like that, $250k was gone.”
The term “fat-finger errors” refers to these types of mistakes. According to a report in 2015, for example, a Deutsche Bank employee delivered $6 billion to a hedge fund client because they were unable to properly calculate the amount due. If anything goes horribly wrong in the traditional market, there is usually a way out, be it legal or the result of societal pressure. It appears that the hedge fund just returned the money the next day in the case of Deutsche Bank.
How to get into a party hosted by the Bored Ape Yacht Club
There is no way for Max to get his money back. Because the NFT he sold is part of a highly sought-after collection, it doesn’t help. At any given time, ten thousand different Bored Apes can be found, each with their own unique take on the aesthetics of a mid-2000s gaming avatar (laser eyes, sunglasses, etc.). There is nothing wrong with the artwork itself, but NFTs are about speculation and the perceived value of a piece of art rather than its quality. NFTs owned by celebs like Jimmy Fallon and Steph Curry are part of the elite Bored Ape NFTs club. They were originally priced at 0.08 ether, or about $320, but have since skyrocketed in price.
After losing, Max appears to be handling the situation well. Sometimes you fuck up, buy the incorrect thing, run out of gas, send Eth to the wrong wallet, or fat finger a listing, as he wrote on Twitter. “It’s going to happen. I know it. But if you let it consume your thoughts after you’ve lost control, you’re only hurting yourself twice.”