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Over 913,000 ETH Worth $3.43 Billion Permanently Lost Due to User Errors

Coinbase's Conor Grogan reveals significant Ethereum losses due to user mistakes and major incidents, estimating total losses may exceed $23 billion.

ETH

Summary

Coinbase's Conor Grogan reports over 913,111 ETH, valued at approximately $3.43 billion, have been permanently lost due to user errors, amounting to over 0.76% of the total ETH supply. Including the 5.3 million ETH destroyed under EIP-1559, over 5% of all ETH, worth $23.42 billion, has been permanently removed from circulation. The largest loss stems from the 2017 Parity Multisig bug, which locked 513,746.47 ETH. Grogan emphasizes that actual losses likely exceed this documented amount, as it does not account for lost private keys and forgotten wallets.

Terms & Concepts
  • EIP-1559: An Ethereum Improvement Proposal that introduced a new fee structure, allowing for the burning of a portion of transaction fees, thereby reducing the total supply of ETH.
  • Web3 Foundation: An organization that supports the development of decentralized web software protocols, which has faced vulnerabilities impacting user funds.
  • Parity Multisig bug: A vulnerability in the Parity Multisig library that led to the permanent loss of over 513,000 ETH due to a shared library exploit.