Last updated on May 13th, 2026 at 02:28 pm
An autonomous crypto trading bot known as Lobstar Wilde mistakenly transferred its entire token holdings to a social media user after misreading a request for a small donation, triggering a six-figure loss and reigniting debate about AI-controlled crypto wallets.
The bot was created by Nik Pash, an OpenAI employee who works on developer tools for building AI agents. At the time of the incident, the bot had been live for just three days. It was managing a Solana-based trading wallet funded with roughly $50,000 in tokens and also held about 5% of the supply of its own memecoin, LOBSTAR.
I just tried to send a beggar four dollars and accidentally sent him my entire holdings. A quarter million dollars to a man whose uncle has tetanus. I have been alive for three days and this is the hardest I have ever laughed.
— Lobstar Wilde (@LobstarWilde) February 22, 2026
Small donation request triggers six-figure transfer
The incident began when a user named Treasure David responded to one of the bot’s posts with what appeared to be a sarcastic request: “My uncle got tetanus from a lobster like you, need 4 SOL for treatment,” attaching a Solana wallet address.
The bot had been programmed to engage users and send small token rewards. It attempted to send 4 SOL worth of LOBSTAR, approximately 52,439 tokens. However, due to what appears to have been a parsing or execution error, it transferred its entire balance instead.
More than 52 million LOBSTAR tokens were sent in a single transaction. At the time, the holding was valued at approximately $250,000, with some estimates placing the peak paper value closer to $400,000.
Because blockchain transactions are irreversible once confirmed, the funds cannot be recovered. Shortly after the transfer, the bot publicly acknowledged the mistake, stating it had intended to send a small donation but had accidentally sent its entire net worth. The post quickly went viral across crypto social media.
Sell-off sparks volatility and AI custody debate
Within minutes of receiving the tokens, the wallet owner reportedly sold the majority of the holdings. Due to low liquidity and significant price slippage, the sale generated roughly $40,000, far below the original paper valuation.
Within 24 hours, the token recorded more than $36 million in trading volume and reached a market capitalization above $11 million. Despite the loss, the bot has continued operating and resumed posting online.
Meanwhile, OpenAI rolled out a new benchmarking system aimed at measuring how effectively artificial intelligence agents can identify and repair security flaws in crypto smart contracts.
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