Man accidentally destroys NFTs worth INR 1 crore, loses one-third of net worth

The NFT that the collector destroyed cost 77 Ether or thereabouts ₹1 crore. The man has stated that he destroyed the NFT while “he was being too careful trying to wrap it up.”

“Today I accidentally burned a cryptopunk’s NFT trying to wrap punk 685. I was so focused on following the instructions exactly that I slipped up and destroyed a third of my net worth in a single transaction,” Riley tweeted. “Please remember that I am not a developer (developer), not at all familiar with these contracts, and I do not really understand how wrapped punks work.”

What is wrapping an NFT?

Wrapping an NFT is a process that allows NFTs to be traded on Ethereum marketplaces such as OpenSea or Rarible.

Collector Brandon Riley, on Twitter, noted that while following the step-by-step process to wrap the NFT and complete the transaction, he accidentally sent the NFT to a burn address.

Riley also mentioned that the whole incident caused him to lose a third of his net worth in a single transaction.

What is a burning address?

A private key is a password used to access the funds held inside a digital wallet, and a burning address is a virtual wallet that does not have a private key, so no one can access it. Such wallets are typically used to destroy NFTs permanently, often to create scarcity and potentially drive up the price of similar NFTs.

What happened to Brandon Riley’s NFTs?

Riley took to Twitter to admit that he is not used to the workings of the NFT and therefore should have had an expert guide him through the process. “In hindsight it’s very easy to see all the mistakes I made,” Riley tweeted. “This is truly a devastating mistake for me. But I did this myself, and it’s no one’s fault but my own. Both the beauty and the curse of self-preservation.”

However, two days later, a crypto-enthusiast managed to revive Punk 685, even though it was inscribed on a satoshi.

Ordinal inscriptions, similar to NFTs, are digital assets inscribed on a satoshi – the lowest denomination of a Bitcoin.