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Did I just lose half a million dollars?

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Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#241
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't get WETH. What is the purpose of exchanging ETH, which is a token on the Ethereum blockchain, for WETH, which is also a token on the Ethereum blockchain (with the same nominal value)?

After a while a standard api was invented for tokens that use smart contacts on ethereum. ETH predates these standards and is built in to the operation of the blockchain. Lots of smart contacts know how to deal with standard tokens but don't have a separate code path to deal with ETH. You can get a version of ETH that fits the interface by wrapping it in a standard token.

I think calling them tokens and giving them acronyms like they’re a currency of some sort leads to a lot of the confusion.

I mean, Java class naming wouldn’t be any better but “WETH” is just extending a base class with an interface.

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#242

Since no one seems to think about how this could have prevented, here is a simple way, which I've applied to lots of things in life, not just cryptocurrency transfers: - If you're making a transfer somewhere with a large amount, do a small transfer first and verify it's working. Confirm at the receiving end before moving big sums. - If you're calling a contract, try it with a small amount first. Verify the parameters…

> - If you're not an expert, have someone who is do verification above for you

I would modify this to

> - If you're not an expert, have someone who is do verification above in addition to you (not instead of you)

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#243
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First time I hear about IMAP/POP3 provider being able to "undo" emails after being sent. What provider are you using and how does that work behind the scenes? And no, gmails fake "we don't actually send it until you close the tab/wait 30 seconds so you can undo it" doesn't count.

I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but in case you haven’t, it’s called bouncing when there’s no valid inbox on the other end. Before you object, yes, you can set up a catch-all incinerator, but that’s not the default as is the case here, you have to explicitly set it up.

"Bouncing" can happen in cryptocurrency world as well, it's called "sending to an invalid address". It just happens to be that the address-space is so big you don't really know what address has a real physical person behind it or not, or yet even.

Try sending cryptocurrency to an invalid address and you'll see that the wallet will reject sending it, just like email bouncing.

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty soon you'll be able to get paid interest on your WETH in WTF. WTF is a meta token based on a smart contract token based on Ethereum. With WTF, you never need to worry about where your money is. You can be assured that 100% of the time you try to redeem it you will stare at your screen for hours going WHAT THE FUCK

Incredibly, I wasn't even completely sure this was a joke. Something like this doesn't feel too far off from the madness going on in the space

Thanks. That lets me know I've done my satire well ;)

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#245
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First time I hear about IMAP/POP3 provider being able to "undo" emails after being sent. What provider are you using and how does that work behind the scenes? And no, gmails fake "we don't actually send it until you close the tab/wait 30 seconds so you can undo it" doesn't count.

> And no, gmails fake "we don't actually send it until you close the tab/wait 30 seconds so you can undo it" doesn't count. Why doesn't it count and why does it matter how Gmail works behind the scenes?

Because that feature of gmail is not a part of email, it's a part of gmail the product. And it is not "undoing" sending a sent email, it's cancelling an email that was never sent in the first place.

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YES. Weren't these supposed to be SMART contracts? My email provider is smarter than that.

First time I hear about IMAP/POP3 provider being able to "undo" emails after being sent. What provider are you using and how does that work behind the scenes? And no, gmails fake "we don't actually send it until you close the tab/wait 30 seconds so you can undo it" doesn't count.

Really? If a mail server (and the post office of most countries) don't have the specified address, it either gets sent back if there is a return address written (email non-delivery notice (aka return to sender, NOT undo) or it goes into a catch all bin (same as a lost & found)(or root account for most mail servers)(or dump it in the bin).

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. I'm not letting anyone off the hook for not knowing the above if they put $5 into something, let alone $500k. But even as a coder and someone who was deeply involved in crypto at one point (2011) I find it hard to make heads or tails of wtf this means. All I hear are a lot of acronyms and bizarre edge cases upon edge cases. It sounds like those arguments you'd hear between kids in junior high over magic cards o…

It's not really edge bases, it's how contracts works, and how this contract works. There is nothing magical here. It's a bit like avoiding the checksums that IBAN has, and then complaining that IBAN is broken. Most people interact with WETH via UIs, but for some reason this user chose not to, and got severely burned because of it. Things that require expertise usually requires one to know acronyms and how things work…

Currencies don't come with a prerequisite of intimate knowledge of industrial jargon that requires use on a daily basis to be proficient enough in to not lose everything.

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#248

In case you’re wondering what happened, from the thread: He sent ETH to the WETH contract, received WETH as expected. Then he wanted to do the reverse and sent WETH, but will not receive anything, because you're supposed to swap your WETH to ETH in exchanges like Uniswap, or call the "withdraw" function in the contract. For contracts that want to only work with ERC-20 tokens, you use WETH, which comes from a contract…

This reminded me of John Cleeses classroom instructions in "Monty Pythons meaning of life" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKg7IinlUfI

Didn't you listen?

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First time I hear about IMAP/POP3 provider being able to "undo" emails after being sent. What provider are you using and how does that work behind the scenes? And no, gmails fake "we don't actually send it until you close the tab/wait 30 seconds so you can undo it" doesn't count.

Really? If a mail server (and the post office of most countries) don't have the specified address, it either gets sent back if there is a return address written (email non-delivery notice (aka return to sender, NOT undo) or it goes into a catch all bin (same as a lost & found)(or root account for most mail servers)(or dump it in the bin).

Yes yes, as mentioned in another sibling comment, your wallet won't allow you to send anything to an invalid address. In this case, the address was not invalid, so why expect it to get rejected?

Re: Did I just lose half a million dollars?

#250
post #156

The future of currency ladies and gentlemen. This money is literally gone. Unrecoverable. Like he took the money out to a barrel and burned it. Only he didn't get any warmth out of it in exchange.

You have to waste energy to create ETH because ‘inflation baaad‘ but destroying ETH is possible by accident. Crypto bros should really take some macroeconomics courses.

I recommend they start with microeconomics, though. More relatable and it would tell them about human nature, first.
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