- The trader lost $25 million after sending funds to the wrong address on the blockchain.
- $2.5 million is being offered to anyone who can help recover their funds.
A crypto trader’s simple mistake led to a $25 million nightmare as he mistakenly sent funds to the wrong address on the blockchain, where they are completely out of reach.
He is now offering a $2.5 million reward for any successful attempt to recover his funds.
The trader, who goes by the name qklpj.eth and declined to share his real name, said DL News he feels “desperate” in the face of his difficult situation.
“I wish someone could find a bug,” he said DL Newsreferring to the possibility of a vulnerability in the smart contract that could unlock its funds. He clarified that the funds do not constitute business assets but personal property.
The incident occurred on Sunday when the pseudonymous trader accidentally transferred $25 million in cryptocurrency to a secure module – a restricted deposit account – rather than to his main vault, a main wallet that allows access complete with funds.
Since blockchain transactions are irreversible and lack an intermediary to correct errors, funds are now trapped unless someone finds a magic solution.
“To all experienced hackers and white hats: I lost a significant amount of money in a contract and I urgently need help to get it back,” the trader wrote on X on Sunday.
“I will immediately offer a 10% reward, or approximately $2.5 million at current prices.”
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Monday evening London time, the trader said DL News that no one had yet found a solution.
Scalable contracts
A possible solution for the trader is for the DeFi Renzo protocol to modify the code of its smart contract. Although many Ethereum smart contracts are immutable and cannot be modified by their developers, Renzo’s contract is designed to allow updates, meaning a fix is theoretically possible.
“Due to compliance, they can’t help,” the trader said. DL News.
In the past, courts have forced DeFi protocols – or rather companies associated with them – to upgrade their contracts.
In February, a British court ordered crypto firm Oasis to recover funds stolen in a $322 million attack on another protocol, Wormhole, last year. The hacker had used Oasis to deposit a portion of the stolen profits with the leading DeFi lending protocol maker in order to get a return.
“I have not considered legal proceedings,” said the trader DL News. “I’m good friends with (the Renzo team) and I don’t want to go through legal proceedings.”
Renzo did not immediately respond to DL News” request for comment.
