By Alicia Maher
NFT marketplace, OpenSea, is enmeshed in a controversy in which over 28.44 Ether worth of non-fungible tokens valued at almost $100,000 was burned due to an error in the platform’s code. According to reports, about 42 ENS-based tokens no longer exist following the burn. Nick Johnson, chief developer at Ethereum Name Service publicized the incident after being affected as well.
As per Nick, he had attempted sending the non-fungible token via an account on ENS to his account when the misfortune occurred. Unfortunately, the token was sent to a burn account with the hash depicting a burn transaction. Nick also noted that the destroyed NFT used to be the first ENS entitled rilxxlir.eth.
Ethereum Naming Service is a technology that enables users to turn text-focused content into a non-fungible token which is then stored on Ethereum even when it is sold to a different person. The developer would also discover that he was not the only victim after he attempted to find out why the burn feature was initiated.
OpenSea Bug Burns ERC721 NFTs
Nick stated that the bug was initiated on OpenSea’s transfer page and had occurred on all ERC721 transfers to ENS names on Thursday. While researching, the ENS chief developer realized not less than 21 personal accounts within which about 30 transactions on the marketplace were all victims of the error. About 42 NFTs in total had been totally taken out of circulation, according to Nick’s calculation. Although Nick noted that the NFT did not bear any monetary value, it carried historical importance as the first ENS name.
Acknowledging the error, Opensea claimed that users who were victims of the burning spree had been contacted. Opensea also assured that the error had been identified and rectified. However, Opensea did not reveal any compensatory measures to refund those who had their ERC721 tokens lost to the malfunction.
OpenSea Becomes Number One Marketplace on Ethereum
Meanwhile, OpenSea has become the foremost Ethereum-based marketplace after facilitating the sales of high-profile NFTs such as CryptoPunks, EtherRocks, Bored Ape Yacht Club and its sister project, Bored Ape Kennel club. The marketplace emerged in 2017, a period considered as the year of ICOs and the early start for most NFT projects such as Etheria, Wei Cards, CryptoKitties, though at the time, they were not known as non-fungible tokens. Reports also indicate that OpenSea is currently the largest consumer of gas fees on Ethereum.
OpenSea has birthed other marketplaces such as Rarible, Axie Infinity, DartRoom. Lately, both centralized and decentralized exchanges are trying to catch up with the NFT wave. Derivatives exchange FTX launched a custodial marketplace last week. Popular AMM Pancakeswap marketplace is due for launch by September 22 alongside a new NFT collection named PancakeSquad.