Another crypto shocker: Major player actually corrects $400m mistake instead of cratering

Fellow crypto-exchange Gate.io spots error, returns funds

Over the weekend it was revealed that cryptocurrency exchange company Crypto.com accidentally sent over $400 million to another cryptocurrency exchange and was miraculously able to get it back.

The accidental recipient, Gate.io, released a statement detailing how it caught on to the October 21 320,000 ETH ($416 million) accidental deposit:

This large-amount entry triggered the security audit mechanism of the Gate.io platform, which was intercepted by the risk control system. After communicating with Crypto.com and confirming that it was an operation error transfer, we immediately started the asset return process and assisted in returning all the wrongly transferred assets.

Gate.io wasn't the only one who spotted the error. After Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek tweeted the company's cold wallet address, another Twitter user expressed curiosity as to why Crypto.com would send 82 percent of their Ethereum to Gate.io and why Gate.io would send 285,000 ETH back five to seven days later.

Marszalek chimed in with an answer: it was intended for a new cold storage address, but was accidentally sent to a whitelisted external exchange address instead.

It was supposed to be a move to a new cold storage address, but was sent to a whitelisted external exchange address. We worked with Gate team and the funds were subsequently returned to our cold storage. New process and features were implemented to prevent this from reoccurring.

— Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) November 13, 2022

Now that's a big oopsie.

Recovering currency is an unusual success in the crypto world, in which errors usually see investors left with only smoking craters to survey.

Crypto.com once accidentally sent an Australian woman $7.2 million instead of $68.50 after an account number was accidentally entered into the payment field. She was eventually ordered to return the money with interest and costs.

Cryptocurrency bridge service Nomad was drained of $190.7 million as part of what could be described as decentralized looting when vulnerabilities were found in its validation code. Those funds were even less recoverable.

The biggest, newest crater is crypto exchange FTX and the once-stellar reputation of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried after funds disappeared following what the firm is calling "unauthorized access" that resulted in the company's bankruptcy.

Just how so much went so wrong so quickly is the question on many people's minds. On its bankruptcy forms, FTX valued its assets at between $10 billion and $50 billion, and more than 130 affiliated companies. ®