- A CrypToadz NFT has sold for over $1.6 million on OpenSea, 1,750x the floor price for such items
- Some believe that the purchase was a mistake while others believe it’s an example of wash trading
- The wallet funding the purchase had recently received the sum paid from the sanctioned mixer Tornado Cash
Was it a fat finger or money laundering? The case of a $1.66 million CryptToadz purchase has raised the specter of criminal activity through NFTs, with the wallet used to buy the toad having previously pulled funds from the sanctioned mixer Tornado Cash. The purchase of CrypToadz #4030 for 1,750x the floor price has caused fervent debate in the NFT community over whether this was simply a hugely expensive error or has a criminal element behind it with no one able to yet say for sure.
1,750x Over the Floor Price
CrypToadz #4030 was acquired on OpenSea for 1,055 Wrapped Ethereum (WETH), equivalent to over $1.6 million, with a staggering transaction fee of nearly $42,000 in ETH paid to OpenSea on top. This purchase massively surpasses the going rate for a CrypToadz NFT, which typically starts at 0.53 ETH (approximately $835), with the highest listed offer for this particular NFT just below 0.6 ETH ($940). Paying $1.66 million for something worth less than a grand is therefore either very stupid or very clever:
Oh geez this doesn’t look good. A Cryptoadz NFT sells for $1,660,000 (1,055 ETH).
There were $41,500 in fees paid to OpenSea which makes me think it was a fat-finger error.
The floor price for the Toadz is 0.5 ETH.
ht @gangnam_eth pic.twitter.com/h8bPTCj2la
— NFTstats.eth (@punk9059) October 9, 2023
Initially, Crypto Twitter commenters speculated that it might have been a “fat finger” mistake, suggesting that the buyer may have rushed through the process and unintentionally paid a much higher amount. Such instances are not unknown, especially when a seller has accidentally accepted a stupidly low bid by accident. However, there’s hardly a clamor for NFTs right now, so the buyer had all the time in the world to make his purchase.
Tornado Cash Link Raises Money Laundering Fears
However, further investigation revealed a more sinister prospect: that the NFT had been used to launcher money. Blockchain sleuths discovered that the wallet responsible for purchasing the NFT had recently received approximately 1,116 ETH (around $1.76 million) from another wallet. Interestingly, this funding wallet had received about 1,200 ETH (almost $1.9 million) from the sanctioned Ethereum coin mixing service, Tornado Cash, in September.
Given the use of Tornado Cash to funnel significant amounts of ETH into the funding wallet, there is a possibility that this NFT purchase was an attempt at wash trading or money laundering, using the acquisition of an NFT to further obscure the flow of funds between crypto wallets and assets.
Proof of this may come with time, as a rash of such purchases would illustrate a pattern through intent, while if this remains a lone purchase then it may well have been a costly error.
