It's just another day in cryptocurrency markets' Wild West.
The unusual surprise came as a surprise to users of Compound, a blockchain startup. Comp tokens, which are rewards for crypto mining, worth millions of dollars, were mislaid Wednesday night. The exchange is now threatening to return the money.
Compound is a decentralized finance protocol that allows investors to trade with one another. Businesses that facilitate the exchange or trading of assets for other types of assets like cryptos for fiat currencies, are called cryptocurrency exchanges.
Public records show that the total amount of $90.1 million was distributed. One user was astonished to find that they had 70 million COMP tokens. This is worth approximately $20 million. They tweeted: "What's the deal?"
Advertisement
Advertisement
Compound is obviously desperate.
Robert Leshner, founder and CEO of Compound Labs tweeted Thursday night that you may have received an incorrectly sized COMP because of the Compound protocol error.
Leshner gave a strong warning.
He added that 10% should be kept as a white-hat. It will be reported as income to IRS and you'll most likely get doxxed.
Advertisement
Advertisement
However, it seems that the founder had a change in heart after making the threat.
I am trying to do everything I can to help this community get some of their COMP back. This was a very shrewd tweet/approach, which he followed up with a tweet. I'm the one who did it.
Leshner said that I appreciated your support and ridicule.
The founder threatened to expose users, and he had basically set his sights on the self-destruct button.
Advertisement
Advertisement
According to Mati Greenspan (quantum Economics founder and portfolio manager), doxxing customers is the most damaging thing a crypto company could do for PR purposes.
Surprisingly users have returned their money when Alchemix, a money market, had a similar event, mistakingly giving out $4.8 Million.
CNBC reported that almost everyone who received the extra rewards got their extras back, according to Mudit Gupta, a blockchain security researcher. He said that this makes me hopeful that most people will also refund COMP tokens. However, you can't be certain.
READ MORE: DeFi Bug accidentally gives $90 Million to users; founder begs them for it back [CNBC]
Advertisement
Advertisement
More about cryptos: El Salvador Officially Commences Mining Bitcoin With Power from an Actual Volcano
Do you care about clean energy adoption? Learn how much money and planet you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. UnderstandSolar.com can show you how much money and planet you could save by switching over to solar power. Futurism.com might earn a small commission if you sign up via this link.
