When an error like this happens in traditional banking, money can usually be easily returned. When it happens in crypto, you have to rely on the goodwill of others to get it back.
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Editor's Note: In Crypto, Typos Are Expensive
Molly Jane Zuckerman writes...
This week, a very old mistake was uncovered — Crypto.com apparently sent one of their users $10.5 million Australian dollars instead of $100 as a refund.
She did the obvious thing — buy a huge mansion and send the rest of the money to her sister overseas. Seven months later, Crypto.com discovered the typo (an employee apparently entered an account number in the payment field) and wants its money back.
We've previously mused about how long it can take for crypto players to notice huge amounts of money is missing and how they often take it in stride — it took the better part of a week for the $625 million Ronin Bridge exploit to be noticed by anybody, and CZ famously wrote "it's just money lol" when Binance's $1.6 billion LUNA turned into less than $3,000 overnight.
There have also been other famous fat-fingered mistakes — Tether accidentally minted (and then destroyed) $5 billion in USDT in 2019, a crypto exchange accidentally paid a $24 million fee (that was returned) in 2021, a Bored Ape accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000 in 2021 (sadly, this was an irrevocable trade.) The list goes on.
When an error like this happens in traditional banking, money can usually be easily returned. When it happens in crypto, with its permissionless, decentralized ledgers, people usually have to rely on the goodwill of others to get their money back. And in the case of Crypto.com, even though they had it in their power to return their mistaken expenditure, the amount of time that had passed made that impossible. The money had already turned into a house.
The judge in this case did note that it was "extraordinary" that Crypto.com took that long to notice the error, but still ruled that the money must be paid back… and with interest.
It must be noted that one of the women who benefited from the multimillion-dollar mistake has not been responding to any requests from Crypto.com's solicitors. If it were me, I'd wait a cool seven months to respond. It only seems fair.
A sluggish September for Bitcoin? 😱
Bitcoin is struggling to stay above $20,000 — falling below this psychologically significant price point for the seventh day in a row. And if history is a guide, September's shaping up to be a challenging month. Since 2017, the world's biggest cryptocurrency has ended every September in negative territory, data from Coinglass shows. Some analysts are especially worried about what will happen if BTC dips below the 52-week low of $17,708.62 — and predict a new crypto contagion could sweep the market, tipping even more companies into bankruptcy. Bitcoin's value plunged by 13.8% last month, in what was the worst August performance since 2015. The Fed's interest rate rises — and fears of a recession — are fueling uncertainty.
Good news for *some* Celsius users 😬
Some Celsius Network users may soon be allowed to start withdrawing cryptocurrency from their accounts — but there's a catch. The relaxed rule would only apply to customers who were part of the custody program, meaning they stored digital assets with the company but didn't earn any interest. In a new court filing, Celsius lawyers said they wanted to unlock $50 million in crypto that shouldn't form part of the bankruptcy proceedings. While this is a move in the right direction, there's much more work to be done. A total of $210 million is owed to users through the custody program — and $4.3 billion in the earn program. Celsius Network has described its new proposal as "fair and appropriate," and a hearing is due to be held on Oct. 6.
Is Twitter's new edit button dangerous? 🚨
Twitter is getting an edit button — but the new feature hasn't gone down well in some crypto circles. Some users have warned "crypto scammers are licking their chops at the idea," amid fears it could be weaponized in an attempt to deceive followers. Others quipped that analysts — who often make bold predictions about where Bitcoin's price is heading next — will never be wrong again. Some security experts fear this tool could be used to add crypto scams and phishing links into tweets that go viral. There are some safeguards in place that could assuage these concerns. For one, tweets can only be edited for 30 minutes — and an icon will denote when changes are made. Crucially, it'll be possible to see past versions of an edited tweet.
BTC performance 'depends on time of day' 😵
Bitcoin performs far worse during Asia's trading hours than Europe's, according to new data. Arcane Research examined how the world's biggest cryptocurrency has fared in the year to date — segregating returns on three key timezones. So far in 2022, Bitcoin has suffered a net loss of 41.74% during Asian trading hours — "with the most substantial downside being experienced during the 3AC collapse in June." Over the same period, Bitcoin has fallen by 25% when Wall Street was open. Arcane analysts added: "The U.S. market hours seems to be the most significant contributor to BTC’s direction. Overall, the most erratic price movements have occurred during U.S market hours." Net losses during European trading stand at just 1.36%.
