📺 Stream EntrepreneurTV for Free 📺

Big mistake! Collector sells the NFT of a rock worth $1 million for a penny A confusion in the denomination used in a marketplace of NFT's causes the very costly error.

entrepreneur daily

This article was translated from our Spanish edition.

StarLineArts | Getty Images

NFT's (non-fungible tokens, that is, cryptographic assets that represent something unique) remain a concept that is difficult for many to understand. But it is a reality that there are artists who have made money selling digital creations registered in block chains or blockchains that contain information about the originality of the piece.

In the most recent episode of the world of NFT's it has been revealed that, due to an error, a collector sold a work worth $1 million dollars for 1¢.

According to Vice , the object in question is a copy of EtherRock , one of the 100 iterations of an NFT project that made history a few months ago by selling for more than $1.3 million dollars. The images always show the same rock, but with a different background. The work was created more than four years ago without much happening around it, but in August 2021 author and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk tweeted about it, it went viral and its price skyrocketed. According to the block chain records of the work, the collector made a mistake and mistakenly gave it a value of 444 wei, instead of 444 ETH, and someone immediately bought it. To be clear: wei is the lowest denomination of the Ethereum cryptocurrency; one ether (ETH) is equal to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei. Which means that the error in the denomination pulverized the price of the work .

Twitter user Rock Dust ( @dino_dealer ) revealed his error through a tweet in which he explained what happened: " How was your week? Mine? I just mistakenly listed @etherrock #44 for 444 wei instead of 444 eth. A bot acquired it on the same block and tried to flip for 234 eth. (SIC) In one click, my entire net worth of ~$1 million dollars was gone. Is there any hope? Am I GMI? Can snipers show mercy? ".

In case you don't know, GMI is an acronym for Not Gonna Make It .

HOW DO NFT'S ACQUIRE THEIR VALUE?

Although it can be complex to understand, the key and the value of NFTs lies in the digital certificates that allow the authenticity of a work to be proven . The sales of these digital assets are recorded in block chains or blockchains that contain information about the ownership of the piece and the history of prices and transactions linked to them. What characterizes the NFT's is that they are unique, indivisible, transferable and it can also be shown that they are scarce. To create an NFT it is necessary to "mint" it, that is, convert it into a digital asset on the blockchain , which can be done in some NFT Marketplace OpenSea , Nifty Gateway and Rarible .

Eduardo Scheffler Zawadzki

Entrepreneur Staff

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

These Coworkers-Turned-Friends Started a Side Hustle on Amazon — Now It's a 'Full Hustle' Earning Over $20 Million a Year: 'Jump in With Both Feet'

Achal Patel and Russell Gong met at a large consulting firm and "bonded over a shared vision to create a mission-led company."

Business News

These Are the 10 Most Profitable Cities for Airbnb Hosts, According to a New Report

Here's where Airbnb property owners and hosts are making the most money.

Productivity

Want to Be More Productive? Here's How Google Executives Structure Their Schedules

These five tactics from inside Google will help you focus and protect your time.

Side Hustle

How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Successful Business

A hobby, interest or charity project can turn into a money-making business if you know the right steps to take.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Starting a Business

This Couple Turned Their Startup Into a $150 Million Food Delivery Company. Here's What They Did Early On to Make It Happen.

Selling only online to your customers has many perks. But the founders of Little Spoon want you to know four things if you want to see accelerated growth.