- A Reddit post recently came up about a blockchain user losing about $500k in total after sending WETH directly to the smart contract address.
- The topic of discussion remains active amongst the participants who are trying to debate the blockchain user’s approach
- Meanwhile, there aren’t any signs about who the user was and what happened to the money that he lost. However, most would agree that the half-million dollars are as good as gone
Cryptocurrency, with all its benefits and importance, is pretty risky. If you don’t have proper information about the technology, you could lose a lot of money in the process. The news that is mentioned below is an example of such a case. A Reddit post recently came up about a blockchain user losing about $500k in total after sending WETH directly to the smart contract address. When it comes to the contract, it is used for wrapping ETH that is sent properly to the address and turn it into WETH. However, the opposite process doesn’t work that way. In a post that has been deleted now, an anonymous user of Reddit allegedly claimed to lose about $500 thousand this Sunday after who sent WETH or Wrapped Ether directly into the smart contract that wrapped the Ether in the first place.
WETH was introduced to the world as a method with the help of which ETH or Ether would incorporate the token standard of ERC-20 so that it can be properly traded using the altcoins that are mined directly from the blockchain of Ethereum. To properly wrap the Ether, the users would have to send the Ethereum into the WETH address of the smart contract, which will then provide them with the tokens in exchange.
But the process of unwrapping the WETH or Wrapped Ether, the users need to swap on a decentralized exchange such as UNI or Uniswap and get the Ether. Instead of taking that step, the Reddit user sent the WETH into the smart contract address directly, which led to the occurrence of ‘token burning.’ This led to an irreversible loss of the entire cryptocurrency the user offered to the address. The transaction on Etherscan shows that about 195.2 WETH or $501,358 was directed to the WETH smart contract.
Most people who read the post and commented on it were sympathetic towards the man who lost so much due to a mistake. For example, a user named 0150r is making a post: “Losing a half-million dollars worth of crypto by mistake is something that needs to be addressed before crypto can become mainstream. When it’s this easy to lose everything, there’s no way your grandma is going to be using it.”
While the user has been getting support and condolences from most people who have commented on the post, some have also managed to point out something very obvious. According to them, the user who made the post did a very stupid thing and should have researched the technology before using it for such an important transaction.
Also Read: A brief introduction to bridges and the wrapped tokens
A user by the name of jade crystal also wrote: “No, you don’t need to design the technology, but if you don’t have a basic grasp of … a microwave oven, a car’s starter, engine, and steering column… or public key crypto and blockchain addresses, this is what happens.”
Such a sound reaction is fitting, knowing that it is a highly risky market when talking about the world of cryptocurrency. Losing something as close to half-million dollars is bad news and something that no one should face. Ever since the post went to the news, the Reddit post in which the user had originally mentioned the tale has been deleted.
Hence, there are no further news points on this particular subject. However, the topic of discussion remains active amongst the participants who are trying to debate the blockchain user’s approach. Meanwhile, there aren’t any signs about who the user was and what happened to the money that he lost. However, most would agree that the half-million dollars are as good as gone.