One of the largest crypto markets is struggling to retrieve millions accidentally refunded to one customer.
Key details
Crypto.com mistakenly refunded a Melbourne, Australia, woman $7 million instead of $68.
The company is currently involved in litigation as it struggles to recover the money from Thevamanogari Manivel who was accidentally refunded the large sum last year.
An Australian court has sided with the crypto company and demanded the return of the money—with interest.
The mistake was discovered during a December 2021 audit.
Manivel did not inform Crypto.com of the error, and the courts attempted to freeze her bank account in February.
A portion of the money had already been moved out of her Crypto account in May 2021 and spent on a million-dollar, four-bedroom property in Melbourne.
Why it’s important
The mistake happened when cryptocurrencies were at their peak prices. The volatile nature of the currencies has sent values down more than 70% since then.
“Crypto newbies were experimenting with small exchanges on its platform… It’s no surprise, then, that the Singapore-based crypto exchange company didn’t realize its $10.5 million [Australian dollars] blunder until seven months later after accountants ran their December audit. Now, with cryptocurrency no longer in its heyday and its mistake fully realized, Crypto.com is doing everything it can to get its money back,” says tech blog Extreme Tech.
The major drop gives an incentive for Crypto.com to aggressively seek back its missing crypto, especially following a major hack earlier this year that stole $34 million in crypto.
What’s not being said
The incident also highlights one of the current weaknesses of cryptocurrency, that being its lack of reciprocity and consumer protections. Crypto markets have limited built-in mechanisms for offering refunds or retracting fraudulent or mistaken transactions as a bank or credit card does. The relative anonymity of crypto also makes filing legal orders or criminal charges difficult.
“Attempts to serve Gangadory the freezing orders were unsuccessful, as she never responded to emails from Crypto.com’s solicitors. The only communication provided to the court was an email reply to Manivel’s solicitors saying ‘received, thank you’,” reports The Guardian.
Backing up a bit
Crypto.com is one of the largest Crypto-Currency exchanges on the internet and was recently represented by a Matt Damon advertisement at this year’s Super Bowl. It describes itself as “The World’s Fastest Growing Crypto App.”
