Those who have been around crypto for a while will understand the agony of sending tokens to the wrong address or network and losing them forever. However, how many understand what it feels like to lose a rare and highly valued CryptoPunk as the result of a fumbled transaction? That is the kind of pain one investor, Brandon Riley, is going through after permanently destroying his $129,000 NFT while attempting to ‘wrap’ it.
Riley bought the piece for 77 ETH less than two weeks ago, and planned to keep it for the next ten years. However, on March 19, he decided to raise some liquidity using CryptoPunk # 685 as collateral, therefore allowing him to unlock further potential from his valuable asset.
In order to interact with most modern NFT platforms, Riley first needed to upgrade the ancient CryptoPunk to the ERC-721 Standard in a process known as ‘wrapping.’ Effectively, ‘wrapping’ the old token in an ERC-721 NFT, that will then allow it to be compatible with the wider Web3 ecosystem.
Going it alone, Riley proceeded to follow some instructions posted online to walk him through the process of wrapping the punk. Only to misinterpret the guide, mistake the burn address for the proxy address, and consign his beloved asset to the digital void.
Today I accidentally burned a @cryptopunksnfts trying to wrap punk 685.
I was so focused on following the instructions exactly, that I slipped up, destroying a third of of my net worth in a single transaction. @yugalabs please sell me the @v1punks 685 as a consolation. 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/jHoTGvlc7j
— Brandon Riley (@vitalitygrowth) March 25, 2023
Investor Regrets Going it Alone
In a series of tweets, Riley notes, “I was told to follow the directions exactly, so I did.” Only for the NFT to be sent to a burn address. When he realized what had happened, he was distraught, noting, “I just shouldn’t have attempted this on my own, I guess.”
Crypto Twitter was sympathetic with the investor, with many blaming confusing interfaces and complex instructions for his loss. Many people agreed that most crypto-related user interfaces needed to be improved to avoid such incidences in the future.
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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.
Basil is an avid fan of blockchain technology and all its innovations, and he is passionate about sharing this narrative with his audience. He has spent over five years in the crypto space, specializing in research and creating Web3 content for various media outlets around the globe.
