[ANN] Lost Ethereum

[mbrix]

Hi guys,


I've launched Lost Ethereum, a new proof-of-mistake ERC20 token that lets people redeem address spelling mistakes as LOST tokens.

You can check out the Dapp, a web3 enabled site at http://www.lostethereum.com/
It requires either MetaMask installed in chrome, Mist, or a properly configured local Parity or Geth instance that accepts loopback RPC.

The lost token is like a proof-of-burn receipt. A quick example, let's say I was trying to transact with an exchange or sending ether to myself but instead of 0x8bf2372d9d51c5874637D6fdA665452d52CaA37e I sent the ether to 0x8bf2372d9d51c5874637D6fdA665452d52CaA37f

I wouldn't be able to spend the second address, and neither would the exchange. In fact there is basically no chance that I control both of those keys, so the LOST contract will generate tokens equivalent to the number in the second address if I can prove ownership of a nearby address. It should act as a proof of burn for that ether, as well as a contract that can be queried to establish proof-of-burn, or possible redemption of Ether itself at some point in the future.

In any event, it's designed to help people who have inadvertently lost Ether through a mistake of their own, or a malfunctioning wallet that didn't properly implement a CRC.

[statdude]

Hi guys,


I've launched Lost Ethereum, a new proof-of-mistake ERC20 token that lets people redeem address spelling mistakes as LOST tokens.

You can check out the Dapp, a web3 enabled site at http://www.lostethereum.com/
It requires either MetaMask installed in chrome, Mist, or a properly configured local Parity or Geth instance that accepts loopback RPC.

The lost token is like a proof-of-burn receipt. A quick example, let's say I was trying to transact with an exchange or sending ether to myself but instead of 0x8bf2372d9d51c5874637D6fdA665452d52CaA37e I sent the ether to 0x8bf2372d9d51c5874637D6fdA665452d52CaA37f

I wouldn't be able to spend the second address, and neither would the exchange. In fact there is basically no chance that I control both of those keys, so the LOST contract will generate tokens equivalent to the number in the second address if I can prove ownership of a nearby address. It should act as a proof of burn for that ether, as well as a contract that can be queried to establish proof-of-burn, or possible redemption of Ether itself at some point in the future.

In any event, it's designed to help people who have inadvertently lost Ether through a mistake of their own, or a malfunctioning wallet that didn't properly implement a CRC.

sad this is necessary.

[mbrix]

Well, unfortunately Ethereum didn't really include a CRC on day one, and a lot of software has proliferated that doesn't support it correctly. So it is possible to send to invalid addresses. The cool thing about the Ethereum network is that it is possible to recover from invalid balances with a smart contract. I think that is pretty cool.

[gavva2010]

I understand this thread is several years old, but I could really use something like this - I lost 206-odd ethereum a few years ago, when I deleted the "ethereum" folder to free-up space on my HDD, inadvertantly also deleting the "keystore" folder, & rather than just freeing up space, I also freed-up my wallet  It generated a new address, with ZERO balance. I'm actively digging around for solutions to this, unfortunately the url above is not active.