Trader loses almost $190,000 by 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 a trader placed a Gemesis NFT bid, losing 100 ETH worth around $190,000 at spot rates on the 5th. April.

Fat finger leads to a loss of 100 ETH

“Blur Farmer”, as observers on Twitter noted, accidentally placed 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 was the “Pro experience”.

While some say the 100 ETH bid could have been a wash trade, i.e. a user trying to launder money, others disagree saying the fat finger was a accident. They support their position by saying that the offer was open and anyone could have accepted it at any time.

A “fat finger” happens when someone accidentally presses the wrong key on a keyboard. This can result in an error and possible loss if someone doesn’t double check before confirming.

The immutable nature of cryptocurrency transactions, ETH being no exception, means that a transfer cannot be reversed once confirmed in the network. The bid was almost immediately accepted, and the NFT was transferred to the farmer. As a result, they ended up holding a Gemesis NFT which is now in place shopped of 0.03 ETH in the open market.

At the time of writing, the identity of the bidder has not been disclosed. 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 combat blurring, OpenSea, which has dominated the Ethereum NFT trading market and provides a platform for users to actively create and exchange years, launched OpenSea Pro.

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

In particular, the platform will aggregate NFT prices across 170 unique marketplaces, and introduce cross-market live data, instant sales, advanced orders and more features.

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

There were 180,000 Gem NFTs to be had imprintedof which 43.1% has been collected by 6 April.

Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView