Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency startup, mistakenly sent 10.5 million U.S. dollars in bitcoin to a couple who thought they had won a prize. The company confirmed the error and said it was working with relevant parties to retrieve the funds, although no further details were provided as of press time.
A couple who were mistakenly sent 10.5 million in bitcoin by cryptocurrency startup Crypto.com has claimed they thought they had won a prize.
The Hong Kong-based startup, which is run by former Ripple executive John Chen, accidentally transferred the funds to a wallet belonging to a random stranger.
Crypto.com Makes A Huge Mistake
The mistake was reportedly due to human error during the testing process, with the transaction being made via email rather than an internal messaging system as intended. In total, 50 transactions were sent out at various times over several days before one user responded saying that there was something wrong with his/her address and asking if “it was part of an ‘auction’?”
The couple claimed that they thought their account was hacked and did not know what to do with the money, but it’s a lot simpler than that. It seems like a mistake for Crypto.com to have transferred 10 million dollars to the wrong person’s wallet, but you can’t blame them for accepting a gift from heaven.
It is possible that these two folks didn’t know how much bitcoin was worth and were simply happy to get some free money! However, it would have been smart of them to return this amount after realizing it was not theirs. For example: “Hello Crypto! I accidentally received $10 million worth of Bitcoin from you! Could I please have my old life back?” Or perhaps even: “My husband accidentally stumbled upon your cryptocurrency fund and now we’re rich; could we please have our old identities back?”
“We are currently working with relevant parties to retrieve the funds,” a Crypto.com spokesperson told the media recently. “We are also working closely with our customers to ensure they are not affected by this issue.”
