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Ross Ulbricht’s Wallets Lose $12 Million: Memecoin Trading Error Explained

Published by
Vignesh S G

Some cryptocurrency wallets connected to Ross Ulbricht, infamous for his role in the Silk Road black market, have just lost a jaw-dropping $12 million. The cause? A simple yet costly trading mistake involving ROSS, a fan-made memecoin.

The report was initially revealed by Arkham Intelligence, a renowned blockchain analytics organisation. In the last seven days, the price of ROSS has experienced a decline of 48.35%. Here is what has happened so far. 

What Was the Trading Error?

Arkham Intelligence revealed that the loss happened when the person managing Ulbricht’s wallets mistakenly set up a liquidity pool on the Raydium exchange at the wrong price.

On a decentralized exchange (DEX) like Raydium, liquidity providers deposit tokens into a pool, which traders can buy and sell from. In return, providers earn fees from trading activity.

In this case, the handler set the pool price too low, making the tokens much cheaper than they should have been. A Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot quickly spotted the mistake, bought the cheap tokens, and sold them for a profit.

The first error caused a loss of around $1.5 million. Shockingly, the handler made the same mistake again, leading to another $10.5 million loss.

ROSS Price Takes a Major Hit

As a result of the errors connected to Ulbricht’s wallets, the ROSS market has dropped by an alarming 90%. Despite this, data shows that Ulbricht’s wallets still hold at least 10% of the total ROSS supply.

Ross Ulbricht’s Controversial Past

Ross Ulbricht is one of the most controversial figures in cryptocurrency. He gained attention when he was arrested for running Silk Road, an online black market that used Bitcoin for payments. In 2015, he was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years in prison.

Ulbricht’s family has launched several campaigns calling for his release, with some, like FreeRoss.org, receiving significant support from the crypto community. On January 22, Ulbricht was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump . Notably, the launch of ROSS came just after his release, adding to the intrigue surrounding his name.

Vignesh S G

Vignesh is a young journalist with a decade of experience. A proud alumnus of IIJNM, Bengaluru, he spent six years as a Sub-Editor for a leading business magazine, published from Kerala. His interest in futuristic technologies took him to a US-based software company specialising in Web3, Blockchain and AI. This stint inspired him to view the future of journalism through the lens of next generation technologies. Now, he covers the crypto scene for Coinpedia, uncovering a vibrant new world where technology and journalism converge.

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