Gitcoin Loses $460,000 in Accidental Token Transfer

Gitcoin has admitted to losing approximately $460,000 worth of Gitcoin (GTC) tokens after transferring them to an unrecoverable contract address by accident.

On October 6, the project director, Coach Jonathan, posted incident details on the Gitcoin governance forum. He stated that the transfer of GTC from the Treasury was intended for a budget proposal for merchandise, parodies, and marketing.

However, instead of being sent to a multisignature address, it was sent to a GTC token contract. “As a result, there is no way to retrieve the funds from the contract,” he stated.

During the incident, further At the time, the coin was trading just below $0.90, making the dollar loss approximately $461,000.

The transaction details and destination address. Source: gov.gitcoin.co

Gitcoin core developers were contacted after the transfer to determine if the contract had a withdraw function or was upgradeable. Both possibilities were ruled out, so the funds have been marked as lost.

In light of the incident, the team has collaborated on plans to ensure that a similar error never occurs again and to clarify accountability in the event of a future incident.

Coach Jonathan concluded, “Large token holders and multisignature signers (myself included) have a responsibility to be extra vigilant when handling funds that do not belong to them.”

Umar Khan, a Gitcoin researcher, stated on the forum that the DAO could view the lost tokens as a reduction in GTC supply as opposed to a loss of Treasury assets. Observers stated, “Crypto UX is flawed if this can occur.”

Gitcoin is a funding platform for Web3 developers seeking open-source work. The proprietors and developers of a project can publish their projects, while donors can peruse a list of projects and decide which ones to fund.

GTC was trading at $0.889 at the time of writing, a decrease of 1.1% over the previous twenty-four hours.

Moreover, according to CoinGecko, the token has dropped a staggering 99% since its all-time peak of $89.62 in May 2021.