Bored Ape Yacht Club has a limited edition of 10,000 digital art pieces, each with minor variations.
Bored Ape number 35347's owner made an "fat fingered" typo when listing the item for purchase online.
An automated account instantly purchased the NFT and it was put back on sale for nearly $250,000.
CNet was informed by maxnaut that he intended to sell Bored Ape number 35347 at 75 Ethereum (ETH), the crypto currency used for many NFT trades.
However, he had a "lapse in concentration" during one of the trades he lists online every single day and instead typed "0.75ETH" ($2,989).
What are NFTs? And why are they worth millions of dollars?
It was difficult to buy a pink NFT kitten.
He said, "I saw the error immediately as my finger clicked on the mouse but... it was instantaneously sniped before i could click 'Cancel" - and voila! $250,000 gone."
The buyer of the suspected bot also paid high "gas" fees, which are used to determine how fast the Ethereum network processes transactions. This fee was 8ETH ($32,000).
However, in an unregulated market for crypto-trading, it is almost impossible to reverse a sale.
Spiritless simians
The Bored Apes were launched in April 2021. A computer script matches and mixes a variety of colors, designs, and accessories to create each individual.
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They were initially sold at 0.08ETH per unit ($320 today) but now they sell at least 50ETH ($200,000).
Many NFT-loving owners, celebrities or not, use their apes to create a profile picture on Twitter.
There are many other benefits to being part of the "yachtclub" such as invitations to community events, and exclusive digital content.
However, critics of NFT markets generally question what buyers get for their money when buying non-physical art. They also wonder if the blockchain "certificate ownership" - which is the same technology that underpins cryptocurrency-currencies – is worth the large sums they pay for certain NFTs.
Because transactions are checked by high-powered computers, the technology consumes a lot of energy. This has led to criticisms that the industry is harmful for the environment.
