Collector Brandon Riley experienced a devastating loss when he mistakenly burned his CryptoPunk #685 token, valued at a whopping $135,000, during an unfamiliar NFT packaging process.
In a tweet expressing his regret, Riley admitted that he was so focused on following the instructions to the letter that he accidentally sent the token to a destruction address, beyond recovery.
The collector had planned to use the token as “perpetual collateral” and secure future loan applications, but his plans were dashed due to a simple mistake in creating a proxy wallet.
Riley acknowledged that he lacked experience with such contracts and should not have attempted the process alone.
The crypto community was quick to react to the incident, unanimously agreeing that the complex instructions and confusing user interface of most crypto ecosystems constantly expose investors to the risk of losing funds, and that an early update is necessary to address these issues.
This event is not unique, as the State Administration of China for Market Regulation has reported a 30,000% increase in complaints related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by the end of 2022.