It’s not every day you see someone accidentally drop over $100,000 on a transaction fee — but that’s exactly what happened to one unlucky trader earlier this week. According to blockchain tracker Whale Alert, the trader shelled out a staggering 31.22 ETH (around $112,745 at the time) while trying to make a move on PulseChain, a DeFi platform.
The transaction went through on Ethereum instead, where fees are — well, let’s just say they’re not usually *that* high. At the time, ETH was sitting at about $3,611.56, making the mistake even more painful.
Realizing the error, the trader didn’t just shrug it off. They reached out directly to TitanBuilder, the Ethereum validator who ended up with the hefty fee, using an on-chain message. The plea was straightforward: *”Help! Some buggy wallet sent this transaction on Ethereum instead of PulseChain… please it is a huge amount of money to me.”*
The mix-up happened because PulseChain runs on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), meaning transactions can technically go through on either network. But here’s the kicker — PulseChain’s native token, PLS, is dirt cheap compared to ETH (we’re talking $0.00003014 vs. $3,525.88). So, paying fees in ETH instead of PLS? Yeah, that stings.
The story caught attention fast, especially after Coinbase director Conor Grogan stepped in. Grogan, who’s known for helping people recover lost crypto, publicly urged TitanBuilder to “do this poor guy a solid.” He also pointed out that the 31 ETH had already been moved to an exchange wallet, likely through some automated process.
Grogan’s track record here is worth noting. Over the years, he’s helped recover millions in lost funds — $10 million for random users, plus another $3 million for Gate.io, a crypto exchange. So when he speaks up, people listen.
About four hours after Grogan’s post, TitanBuilder refunded the trader — sort of. They sent back 29.5295 ETH ($103,511.61), which they called “100% of the block profit.” Not the full amount, but close enough to count as a win.
Still, it’s a reminder of how easy it is to slip up in DeFi. One wrong network selection, one buggy wallet, and suddenly you’re out six figures. At least this time, someone was paying attention.
