$98,002.00
6.24%$3,434.33
10.17%$2.29
16.06%$674.47
8.99%$192.34
8.91%$0.334693
24.69%$0.999204
0.09%$0.953914
24.72%$3,425.97
10.01%$0.250525
11.13%$40.37
19.36%$23.69
18.08%$4,083.53
10.96%$5.46
13.49%$4.72
34.83%$0.00002292
22.72%$97,724.00
5.68%$0.374298
19.25%$7.40
21.74%$33.17
43.24%$0.267377
13.77%$3,434.41
10.11%$466.37
19.31%$9.26
1.11%$13.78
22.61%$0.00001872
28.81%$103.22
18.55%$3,626.75
10.37%$5.36
18.11%$4.28
15.79%$0.998985
0.29%$10.55
5.79%$10.86
22.22%$0.998884
0.08%$319.60
17.12%$0.168034
18.20%$0.500116
20.53%$27.23
15.24%$1.22
20.67%$7.59
24.06%$0.04822028
25.65%$3.94
15.16%$484.24
20.35%$192.18
13.65%$1.35
19.37%$24.49
0.38%$1.16
33.76%$0.799671
18.59%$5.21
17.80%$0.124936
13.17%$1.063
23.63%$0.353062
23.99%$46.08
9.53%$7.00
19.58%$2.70
29.48%$1.79
14.56%$1.80
20.94%$1.89
16.29%$0.00003322
32.48%$1.45
18.25%$5.34
21.74%$1.007
44.33%$2.26
28.76%$22.18
18.85%$2.14
23.27%$0.22186
20.00%$3,429.76
9.37%$98,052.00
6.58%$0.452977
20.63%$0.03040657
30.73%$2.34
19.41%$5.32
17.43%$3,543.00
10.31%$0.03557854
25.58%$3,848.69
10.54%$0.00017803
22.04%$0.997317
0.16%$117.50
23.05%$13.20
13.16%$0.03819919
28.64%$3,611.99
9.73%$1.77
25.38%$0.02806949
12.44%$18.89
11.33%$0.02857993
31.28%$98,012.00
6.13%$1,672.70
11.50%$0.594499
25.09%$3.33
0.07%$0.388909
19.77%$0.999046
0.08%$1.35
24.31%$1.38
13.45%$0.233938
20.63%$97,889.00
6.02%$0.136653
24.66%$11.31
10.60%$4.60
19.63%$0.854066
20.39%$3,530.36
10.31%$7.09
16.81%$196.08
9.00%$36.78
15.29%$0.87994
17.60%$1.65
25.31%$0.751179
19.42%$0.078277
20.23%$0.499325
16.28%$17.20
18.86%$0.313609
23.59%$55.87
16.10%$1.55
20.42%$0.964517
25.68%$0.864351
25.42%$0.00000111
15.30%$1.14
16.01%$239.84
8.63%$14.71
17.05%$6.56
23.80%$36.46
22.97%$0.501255
20.79%$0.502821
19.91%$97,025.00
5.03%$1.22
21.12%$0.866914
-8.36%$5.34
28.51%$3,429.76
11.91%$97,484.00
6.23%$54.64
32.15%$0.00000217
9.44%$4.02
12.55%$3.09
13.31%$0.089974
21.14%$3.35
19.61%$0.28504
19.90%$0.734719
34.06%$0.167689
18.57%$0.805716
24.50%$0.641985
19.13%$3,434.93
10.37%$84.84
22.62%$205.15
9.14%$0.997597
0.57%$2.50
20.13%$1.97
16.29%$0.797857
47.44%$1.63
31.68%$2.14
15.26%$3,433.43
9.81%$0.00003625
16.41%$22.14
19.34%$0.00699891
27.46%$1.55
20.53%$0.00823159
18.00%$0.335026
23.90%$268.06
15.68%$0.778377
23.52%$0.186149
22.35%$0.00665673
18.58%$0.678126
14.78%$96,930.00
8.58%$0.667967
23.83%$5.88
20.48%$2,626.43
1.03%$0.994255
0.46%$0.00
31.63%$3,613.36
10.06%$0.01163777
26.05%$0.00011401
24.91%$2.52
22.13%$3,717.60
9.78%$0.00878391
24.60%$19.93
29.91%$1.25
-1.07%$0.086093
19.93%$0.00652163
23.69%$27.57
16.13%$0.276541
17.62%$1.11
21.74%$3,436.02
10.03%$11.09
18.41%$0.405153
20.05%$1.36
31.03%$1.35
28.19%$0.542174
37.50%$14.50
32.44%$0.077364
4.57%$98,203.00
6.43%$1.017
0.45%$0.998569
-0.13%$0.00000053
9.96%$0.054257
43.64%$2,622.29
0.94%$1.55
17.31%$32.65
29.73%$0.01131517
23.89%$97,165.00
6.07%$3,348.58
7.88%$8.95
-19.54%$5.01
18.19%$3,435.09
10.08%$0.455523
21.86%$0.999252
0.24%$0.00651807
38.09%$0.062754
18.23%$38.41
20.62%$0.295036
70.60%$0.06721
16.81%$0.00655456
19.15%$0.00255527
24.92%$0.00582476
24.73%$97,805.00
5.89%$2.14
19.17%$3,584.73
10.28%$3,688.55
9.79%$0.00104798
21.37%$1.058
-0.52%$0.02226309
23.93%$3.27
14.03%$26.71
59.37%$0.234522
24.89%$0.073819
12.81%$0.00000338
24.44%$0.483762
18.78%$5.26
7.78%$0.996596
1.29%$0.216414
19.57%$1.077
0.23%$88.50
4.05%$2.55
22.29%$0.999537
0.01%$0.695011
21.71%$0.00000018
14.39%$3,793.07
10.62%$0.03876819
12.79%$3.03
12.60%$3.51
18.46%$0.144034
13.54%$0.907396
11.44%$47.52
19.74%$0.03727717
21.65%$0.759608
30.62%$0.01099578
22.29%$0.368527
16.96%$1.00
0.07%$0.362402
20.82%$0.368522
69.85%$0.03832545
21.06%
Ethereum users lost just over 174 ETH (worth roughly $490,000 at current prices) in failed transactions as they were trying to mint a “COVIDPunks,” a new collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which simply throws a medical mask on top of CryptoPunks avatar.
🥳WE ARE LIVE!🥳
Mint now at https://t.co/lgEla2OqtR pic.twitter.com/XkMopZTjHy
— COVIDPunks🦠 (@COVIDPunksNFT) August 5, 2021
Like the original, “medically masked” punks are a set of 10,000 randomly generated low-resolution avatars in the form of NFTs. Each of these tokens is cryptographically unique and serves as a digital certificate of authenticity and ownership.
Thanks to these inherent qualities, the original CryptoPunks became highly popular among collectors—so much so that the cheapest CryptoPunk you can buy today will cost over $100,000 in Ethereum.
Naturally, the fanfare has attracted copycats.
You lose a potion of gas only not the mint amount
— HT.3♦ (@htdot3) August 5, 2021
The minting of COVIDPunks began on Thursday at 5 pm UTC, and less than an hour later all 10,000 NFTs were sold out. Notably, the project’s launch also coincided with Ethereum’s latest upgrade dubbed London. Among other things, it has introduced a mechanism for burning ETH tokens.
Thanks to this, COVIDPunks became the biggest “ETH burner” in an instant, responsible for the destruction of 525 ETH (about $1.5 million) while the minting was active, according to Ethereum burn tracker Ultrasound.money.
The NFT drop also pushed the burn rate up to 14 ETH ($40,000) per minute as the emission rate of Ethereum plummeted to -4.7 ETH per minute.
This means that for an hour or so, the total supply of ETH was actually shrinking as more tokens were burned than produced.
At the same time, as users flocked to mint COVIDPunks, the Ethereum network got clogged and transaction fees skyrocketed from around 70 Gwei ($5.8) to over 400 Gwei ($33).
— Alex Svanevik ✨ (@ASvanevik) August 5, 2021
Unsurprisingly, because of such heavy congestion, many transactions that were sent to mint COVIDPunks have failed—and there are no gas refunds on Ethereum.
According to a special tool on crypto metrics platform Dune Analytics designed to calculate losses due to failed transactions, would-be COVIDPunk buyers have lost 174.39 ETH—or $489,868—in total on unsuccessful transfers.
A similar fate has recently befallen another NFT project—the sale of Stoner Cats mini-series resulted in users losing $790,000 in failed Ethereum transactions last week.
