In a recent turn of events, a non-fungible token (NFT) trader on OpenSea mistakenly bid 100 Ether, equivalent to $191,239, for a free NFT, instead of placing a bid for nothing. The NFT was a part of OpenSea’s Gemesis NFT collection, which offers free NFTs to commemorate the launch of OpenSea Pro on April 4. The trader’s bid is a whopping 250,000% increase on the floor price of 0.04 ETH.

OpenSea Pro is a platform aggregator that caters to professional users by providing them with a “vastly improved” suite of features such as live cross-marketplace data and advanced orders. The trader’s purchase has caused some to question whether it was a result of a fat-finger mistake or a case of wash trading, which is a form of market manipulation that is prevalent in the NFT trading space.

A record of the transaction on an Ethereum blockchain explorer. Source: Etherscan

Some Twitter users, such as “0xSun,” believe that the trader may have intended to bid $100 but mistakenly bid 100 ETH instead. However, a Reddit user who posted about the sale argued that it was an open offer that was available to anyone, making it too risky to be a wash trade as another trader or bot would quickly snap up an offer so far above the floor price.

OpenSea acquired NFT aggregator Gem for an undisclosed amount in April 2022 and refined the platform to create OpenSea Pro. Only users who bought at least one NFT on Gem before March 31 are eligible to mint a Gemesis NFT, and the minting window is set to close on May 4.

The incident has raised questions about the reliability of bidding systems on NFT marketplaces and whether there should be measures in place to prevent such costly mistakes from occurring. It remains to be seen whether OpenSea will take any action in response to this incident.