An Accidental Millionaire

In crypto, we know that all transactions are final. If you accidentally send a large sum of money to the wrong address, that money is as good as gone. Centralized exchanges, though, do have the ability to reverse transactions when mistakes have been made. Crypto.com accidentally sent a customer $7.2 million (USD) and they’re now trying to get it back.

• An Australian customer, Thevamanogari Manivel, received $7.2 million (USD) instead of $68 (USD) due to an unfortunate typo on behalf of a crypto.com worker.
• They reportedly did not notice the error until 7 months later. By that time, the customer had transferred the cash to a joint account and spent roughly $900K on a home for her sister.
• Crypto.com is now suing Manivel in the Victoria Supreme Court. The court has ordered Maniple to sell the home and return the money to the exchange.
• Some believe that she should be able to keep it. Henderson and Ball Lawyers say “the onus is actually on you to call the sender and say, look, that shouldn’t have come into my account.”

The case will return to court in October. While we can speculate what can happen, we’ll have to wait and see what the final ruling is. Exchanges seem to be losing money left and right due to mistakes. Solana-based decentralized exchange – OptiFi lost $660K after a developer accidentally shut down the entire program.