Sending WETH To WETH Contract Mistake

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Wrapped Ethereum Graphics

A user made the mistake of sending wrapped ethereum to the wrapped ethereum smart contract, thinking it would work to unwrap it. Instead, their funds were permanently lost.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About None

"Edit: Full story. Sent ETH to WETH contract and got WETH back (after some googling I found this is how the contract works). Assumed it works the same way backwards and sent WETH back to the contract. No ETH back. Apparently you have to use a frontend to get the ETH back. ETH lost forever."

"Edit 2: Thanks strangers. I am really happy to see lots of kind hearted people in the comments and chat. This is a significant amount of money for anyone to lose and it was the case for me as well. I was under the stress of some other things in my life and made a bigger mistake by making assumptions in this wild early technology. But, I will be OK."

"I am sharing my wallet address in case the community wants to help me remediate some of this loss. I would also be in favor of an EIP returning money to addresses who lost money because of these early mistakes. However, I can see that this can be a contentious one, so the community and the success of Ethereum should always be first."

"Edit 3: I am also sorry that this was a negative event for the perception of cryptocurrencies. The last thing I would want in this world :( A life-changing lesson for me, but definitely something to work on as a community as well."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Sending WETH To WETH Contract Mistake

Date	Event	Description
January 29th, 2022 7:37:50 PM MST	Blockchain Transaction	The actual initial blockchain transaction is performed, which sends wrapped ethereum to the wrapped ethereum smart contract. The end result of this transaction is that the wrapped ethereum is sitting in the smart contract's address.
January 29th, 2022 8:01:46 PM MST	Original Reddit Post	The incident is first posted to Reddit. There is just a link to the transaction.
January 31st, 2022 12:11:58 PM MST	CryptoPotato Article Published	The story is shared to the CryptoPotato. At this point, the Reddit post has already been deleted.
February 2nd, 2022	Repost To IFunny	The Reddit post is shared to IFunny, with specific commentary on the concern over the perception of cryptocurrencies.
March 29th, 2022 11:31:12 AM MDT	Reddit Post Deleted	The Reddit post was deleted sometime prior to January 31st.

Total Amount Lost

Web3isGoingGreat estimated the loss at $510,000 USD.

The total amount lost has been estimated at $510,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

As of April 6th, 2023, the wrapped ethereum smart contract presently holds 654.29451014 wrapped ethereum, all of which is permanently lost.

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.