Trader Loses Almost $190,000 Bidding On A Free NFT On OpenSea Pro

Barely 72 hours after OpenSea, a top non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, launched OpenSea Pro, it has been reported that one trader fat-fingered a Gemesis NFT bid, losing 100 ETH worth around $190,000 at spot rates on April 5.

Fat Finger Leads To A 100 ETH Loss

The “Blur Farmer,” as observers on Twitter noted, accidentally placed the 100 ETH bid for a Gemesis NFT, which was freely minted and distributed to some Gem users as a thank-you, after OpenSea acquired Gem in April 2022, investing in what they said at the time to be “Pro experience.”

While some say the 100 ETH bid could have been a wash trade, that is, a user attempting to launder money, others oppose saying the fat finger was an accident. They support their position by stating that the bid was open, and anyone could have accepted it at any moment. 

A “fat finger” happens when someone presses the wrong button on a keyboard by accident. This can result in an error and possible losses if someone doesn’t double-check before confirming.

The immutable nature of cryptocurrency transactions, ETH being no exception, means a transfer cannot be reversed once confirmed in the network. The bid was almost instantly accepted, and the NFT was transferred to the farmer. As a result, they ended up holding a Gemesis NFT that’s currently being traded at 0.03 ETH in the open market.

Ethereum Price On April 6| Source: ETHUSDT On Binance, TradingView (OpenSea)

At the time of writing, the identity of the bidder hasn’t been revealed. However, on-chain transactions reveal that the bidder is an active trader on Blur, a community-driven NFT marketplace, and an OpenSea competitor. 

OpenSea Pro And Gemesis NFT Drop

To counter Blur, OpenSea, which has dominated the Ethereum NFT trading marketplace, providing a platform for users to actively mint and trade their years, launched OpenSea Pro. 

According to OpenSea Pro documentation, it shall be what they claim to be the “most powerful NFT aggregator,” offering “different boats for different folks.” Designed to meet the needs of professional traders, OpenSea claims the platform will have “a new level of optionality, selection, and control.”

Notably, the platform shall aggregate NFT prices across 170 unique marketplaces, introducing live cross-marketplace data, instant sales, advanced orders, and more features.

This release coincided with the “Gemesis” NFT drop for Gem early adopters. Users who had bought NFTs on Gem before March 31, 2023, qualified to mint free assets through to May 4, 2023.

There were 180,000 Gem NFTs to be minted, of which 43.1% have been collected by April 6.

Source: https://bitcoinist.com/trader-bidding-on-free-nft-on-opensea-pro/

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