The second most popular NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club, is back on the news. On the one hand, a deadly mistake cost a pseudonymous user more than $250K. On the other, a feelgood story of a diamond-hand holder that minted a Bored Ape seven months ago and just sold it for over $1M. Or did he? The deal is tainted by a suspect second transaction that the community immediately detected.
Related Reading | The Sandbox Purchase Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT for More Than $2.9 Million
Exciting beginning of the week in the Yacht Club, and NewsBTC has all the juicy details on both stories.
A Costly-Costly Mistake In The Bored Ape Yacht Club
Maxnaut’s membership to the Yacht Club has been revoked. This person’s distraction while listing his Bored Ape for 75ETH, lead him to actually list it for 0.75ETH. A bot immediately snatched it, paying an extra high transaction fee to ensure the extremely profitable buy. Not only that, the bot listed it for 88 ETH straight away. Forget the Roomba and those goofy Boston Dynamics robots, this is the most useful and effective bot ever created.
The ex-owner, Maxnaut, told Cnet:
“I list a lot of items every day and just wasn’t paying attention properly. I instantly saw the error as my finger clicked the mouse but a bot sent a transaction with over 8 eth [$34,000] of gas fees so it was instantly sniped before I could click cancel, and just like that, $250k was gone.”
A horror story if we ever heard one. Multitasking takes another victim.
ETH price chart for 12/13/2021 on Kraken | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
From Diamond Hands To Millionaire, But Wait…
Only 10.000 Bored Apes exist. All of them were minted for 0.08ETH each. The photographer John Knopf was one of the lucky people that believed in the project from the get-go and was greatly rewarded. This is his story. “I bought my ape for .08 on minting night and just sold it for 347 ETH. (…) I am crying so much. Thank you Bored Ape Yacht Club for completely changing my life and everyone in the community!”
I bought my ape for .08 on minting night and just sold it for 347 ETH. I am at a loss for words right now. I am crying so much. Thank you @BoredApeYC for completely changing my life and everyone in the community!!!! And thank you @_jeffnicholas_ for telling us all to buy them! https://t.co/BxeexYDmM7 pic.twitter.com/FuKtrFwhdH
— John Knopf (@JohnKnopfPhotos) December 12, 2021
The person who told him to buy completes the heartwarming story. “Going from degening into Bored Ape Yacht Club because I liked the art, to telling John Knopf to ape in that fateful Friday night (…) I’m so so so happy for you. Massive. Massive for you, and for the BAYC community.”
Going from degening into @BoredApeYC because I liked the art, to telling @JohnKnopfPhotos to ape in that fateful Friday night when he was all 
, to this result 8mo later. Wow. @JohnKnopfPhotos I’m so so so happy for you. Massive. Massive for you, and for the BAYC community. https://t.co/bJTE83XLKl pic.twitter.com/snhIlLRi63
— jeffnicholas.eth 
(@_jeffnicholas_) December 12, 2021
But wait, what is this? The Ethereum blockchain shows that John Knopf sent 230 ETH back to the wallet that bought his Bored Ape.
And then he transfer 230E to the wallet that bought the Ape?
I dont get it pic.twitter.com/f2UgKrKS2W
— !etavares (@Eurico_RT) December 12, 2021
But wait, what is this? The owner of the wallet did send a message to John Knopf through the blockchain asking him to return the funds. Apparently, he was trying to make a bid and made a million Dollar mistake.
Yo yo @JohnKnopfPhotos is not in the WRONG
Buyer fucked up the offer. Chill out y'allhttps://t.co/fPOsXeITnr pic.twitter.com/iiG4mD0Tm0
— jiran.eth | Sherblock Nodes (@Jiran_z) December 12, 2021
The New Bored Ape Owner Shared His Side Of The Story
A few days later, Deepak Thapliyal, the Bored Ape 9452’s new owner, told his story. “I decided I wanted this ape no matter what (…) I knew I wanted it, so originally I moved 655 ETH into my wallet because I was actually prepared to buy it at full ask.”
6/ Here comes the interesting part. The message signed in the blockchain wasn’t the __full story__ on how I mistakenly sent the eth but was the high level overview of it as far as anyone publicly needed to be concerned at the time.
— Deepak Thapliyal (@dt_chain) December 12, 2021
He wasn’t actually making a bid, but checking John Knopf’s wallet activity in Etherscan. However, “After I placed my originally bid, I had to move 230 ETH to another wallet in mobile. I _thought_ the copy button for the address I was sending too was pressed properly. PS: I was multi tasking.” Here we go, multitasking takes another victim.
11/ I finally took spaces out manually via a mobile phone (took a few mins) then missed a space and had to do it again (mind you I’m moving quickly to try to get the message out ASAP). Finally getting the message out but no funds were sent back. Thankfully I found Johns Twitter.
— Deepak Thapliyal (@dt_chain) December 12, 2021
Deepak found Knopf’s on Twitter, and “I tweeted at him and he followed so I could DM him. I explained my story and told him how I wanted his ape. He quickly informed me he had no intentions to keep my money and would send it back. He asked if I wanted the ape still which I said “yes”.” They agreed on a price and the rest is history. “Funny story to tell my kids one day when I give them this ape. Thanks to John for being a standup guy and returning my ETH.”
14/ Odd way to start but very nostalgic to “aping in” as it goes. Funny story to tell my kids one day when I give them this ape. Thanks to John for being a standup guy and returning my ETH and giving me a discount of what I was prepared to spend already.
— Deepak Thapliyal (@dt_chain) December 12, 2021
Facts And Burning Questions
And that’s pretty much it. Do you buy Deepak Thapliyal’s story? Was it an innocent mistake? Or do you think he and Knopf were up to something? The high price buy raises all of the Bored Ape’s prices, specially Bored Ape 9452’s value. However, the blockchain doesn’t lie and Knopf ended up with 347 ETH total.
Related Reading | Miramax Sues Quentin Tarantino Over “Pulp Fiction” NFTs. Tarantino Moves Forward
You have all the facts and every side of the story. Reach your own conclusions.
Featured Image: Screenshot from the Bored Ape’s website | Charts by TradingView
