😱😱😱 Crypto user fat fingers $90K fee for a $2K #ETH🔥🔥🔥🔥 transfer

Crypto User Accidentally Spends $90,000 in #gasfees for $2,200 Ether Transfer

An unknown crypto user has reportedly spent $90,000 in gas fees to transfer just $2,200 worth of Ether, according to data from #Etherscan and a post by pseudonymous user DeFiac on August 11. The user paid 34.26 ETH (approximately $89,200 at current prices) in gas fees for a transaction of 0.87 ETH, which is worth $2,262.

Currently, gas fees on the Ethereum network are at yearly lows, ranging between 2 and 4 gwei. Typically, such a transaction would cost no more than $5 in fees, meaning the user overpaid by more than 1,783,900%.

"Fat finger" errors, where users make significant mistakes in transaction amounts, are not uncommon in the crypto space. For instance, on October 10, 2023, an NFT trader mistakenly paid 1,055 ETH (worth $1.6 million at the time) for an NFT priced at $1,000. Similarly, on April 6, an OpenSea collector spent 100 ETH (around $191,000) on a free NFT mint, raising concerns of wash trading.

Not only retail users make such mistakes. In May 2021, Crypto.com, a Singapore-based crypto exchange, accidentally sent $7 million to Thevamanogari Manivel, an Australian user. Manivel used the funds to purchase a multimillion-dollar mansion & transferred about $4 million overseas. She was later sentenced to 209 days in jail for dealing in the proceeds of crime.

While this high gas fee could be an accidental error, it might also be a sophisticated form of money laundering. The user would have had to coordinate with an Ethereum validator to ensure the transaction was processed correctly & the funds were not misdirected.

A report by crypto staking firm Northstake in October 2023 revealed that illicit & high-risk activity on Ethereum staking protocols & certain areas of the mainnet ranges from 0.46% to 1.56%. This relatively low percentage still raises concerns among regulated entities exploring liquid staking protocols & decentralized finance (DeFi) on Ethereum.

Source - cointelegraph.com