Crypto wallets connected to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road marketplace, lost $12 million due to a misstep while trading a fan-made token called ROSS.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence shared the details in a January 30 post on X, explaining how the mistake led to a sudden drop in the token’s value.
The issue began when Ulbricht, or someone managing his wallets, set up a liquidity pool at the wrong price on the decentralized exchange (DEX) Raydium
$6.86
. This allowed a trading bot to buy $1.5 million worth of the token (5% of its total supply) at a low price and immediately sell it for a profit.
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The same mistake happened again, resulting in a $10.5 million loss or about 35% of the token’s supply.
Arkham explained that instead of using the correct liquidity setup, the user created a pool using the wrong market-making method. This error made it easy for another bot to buy and sell the tokens, pushing ROSS down by 90%.
However, after losing 40% of the total supply, the wallets still hold around 10%, worth approximately $200,000.
The wallets involved in the transactions are listed as donation addresses on FreeRoss.org, a campaign run by Ulbricht’s family. They had received 50% of the ROSS token supply from its developer but lost a large portion due to these trading errors.
Recently, Ulbricht received a donation from the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken
$347.62M
. How much was it? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
