An EtherRock NFT valued $1 million (Rs 7.6 crore) was unintentionally sold for less than a cent by an NFT collector. He listed his treasured Rock NFT for 444 Wei instead of 444 ETH.
One Wei is the smallest unit of Ether, equaling one quintillionth of one Ether. Etherrock is a collection of 100 cartoon pet rocks based on free clipart that have sold for millions of dollars.
After the rock NFT sold for less than a cent, the NFT was relisted for 234 ETH (Rs 4.6 crore).
The NFT collector posted about the event on Twitter.
The rock NFT collector, @dino dealer, tweeted, “I just erroneously posted @etherrock #44 for 444 wei instead of 444 eth.”
The Rock NFT turned to ashes in a click
They said, “Bot sniped it in the same block and attempted a 234 eth flip. My whole net worth of $1 million dollars vanished with a single click. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Can snipers be merciful?”
The majority of the responses indicated incredulity, with a dash of mockery tossed in for good measure. “The silver side is that your whole financial worth is no longer in a rock jpeg?” one Twitter user responded.
EtherRock is a four-year-old NFT project that got popular last year for no apparent reason, causing its prices to surge.
The project comprises of 100 NFTs made from free clipart images of the same cartoon rock, each with a little varied hue. A bid of 900 ETH (approximately $3.5 million) was put for one EtherRock in October.
Dino Dealer inquired seeking an Etherscan refund, but was unsuccessful. They wrote in the comments area, “Hello sir.” “Is it possible for you to return the etherrock? I made a terrible blunder. I never had a chance because your bot grabbed it in the same block as my transaction.
Over the last year, bot sniping has grown so common in NFT marketplaces that websites now provide bots to assist you beat those who are a millisecond faster.
To give you an example, one listing on the gig labor platform UpWork offers to sell an NFT sniping bot in various tiers for thousands of euros so you can obtain a “competitive edge” if you’re “weary of being LAST” when buying NFTs.
The popularity of EtherRock has resulted in a slew of clones on NFT exchanges, but none of this explains why they’re valuable or why people would spend thousands of dollars on bots to buy them. “We like the rocks,” is the rallying cry of EtherRock supporters.