Users have permanently lost access to 636,000 ETH (around $1.15 billion) since the network's launch as a result of bugs and their own mistakes, according to Conor Grogan, head of product at Coinbase.
He has written:
"I've categorized thousands of instances of Ethereum typos, user errors, and buggy contracts."
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to get daily short digests about events that shape the crypto world
Grogan has pointed out that the amount corresponds to 0.5% of the Ether in circulation and has recalled some of the most prominent incidents of all time, including the blocking of more than 306,000 ETH due to an error with the Parity multi-signature wallets smart contract, or when the exchange QuadrigaCX, which closed as a result of a $137 million loss, lost 60,000 ETH due to a failed contract.
He has pointed out that this $1.1 billion-plus is an underestimate of the value of the amount of ETH actually lost.