Trader offers $2.5M reward to recover $26M lost to error

A crypto trader, using the pseudonym qklpjeth, disclosed losing $25 million in June due to a copy-paste error involving the wrong deposit address.

The investor transferred 7,912 Renzo restaked ETH (ezETH), currently valued at $26.4 million, to a safe contract address on June 19, mistakenly locking the funds.

In response, they are offering a $2.5 million reward to white-hat hackers who can help recover the assets.

Discussing the mishap, qklpjeth summarised it as “wrong copy,” explaining that the transfer directed funds to a safe module instead of their intended safe, rendering the tokens inaccessible.

After trying conventional recovery methods for nearly five months, the trader turned to social media, appealing for assistance in finding a smart contract vulnerability that could enable the recovery of the funds.

The crypto community responded with various suggestions.

DefiLlama developer 0xngmi recommended contacting the Renzo protocol to request modifications to the token contract.

However, according to qklpjeth, this approach had already been pursued without success due to regulatory constraints.

Harrison Seletsky, director of business development at SPACE ID, remarked that the incident serves as a critical reminder for the need to improve user experience in the crypto industry.

“It’s shocking that simple copy and paste errors are still costing people millions in crypto,” he emphasised, highlighting that such significant losses underscore the importance of enhancing transaction interfaces.

Seletsky further noted that such issues deter mass adoption.

He added that users often prefer centralised systems over self-management due to concerns about errors and financial security.

“The UX is the key to unlocking mass crypto adoption, so there needs to be far more focus on UX, starting with crypto transactions first and foremost,” he stated.