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User Loses $136,000 Because of Bitcoin Transaction Blunder

User can recover his money until May 3, 2016

May 1, 2016 18:30 GMT  ·  By
Bitcoin transaction blunder sends money to the wrong person
   Bitcoin transaction blunder sends money to the wrong person

During the past week, followers of the Bitcoin landscape noticed an error on the Bitcoin blockchain, where one user sent 291 BTC ($136,700) to a Bitcoin mining pool by accident.

To understand what happened, users unfamiliar with how Bitcoin works need a simple intro. Whenever user A sends Bitcoin to user B, the transaction needs to be recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain, a shared unhackable database.

Users send this transaction to Bitcoin mining pools, which, for a fee, record and carry out the transaction in the Bitcoin blockchain. For each transaction, the fee is generally 0.0001 Bitcoin.

Somebody mixed up their form fields

As it appears from the details of transaction #409,008, one user accidentally switched the two fields and sent 0.0001 Bitcoin to the recipient and 291.241 Bitcoin to the mining pool instead.

All Bitcoin transactions these days are carried out via automated tools, so it appears that whoever made this transaction was using older tools, such as command-line clients or some antique desktop client.

Since Bitcoin is a crypto-currency that ensures users get to keep their privacy, nobody knows who sent the money or for whom was it intended.

The mining pool is willing to return the Bitcoin

What's known is that the lucky mining pool that received the generous amount is BitClub, who, according to its terms of service, is legally allowed to keep it.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin news site CoinDesk says BitClub is willing to return the money to its rightful owner if they decide to come forward and prove their real identity.

Furthermore, the mining pool has said that if the user does not reveal themselves within a week, meaning until May 3, they will donate some of the fees to the Bitcoin Foundation.

Bitcoin experts claim that is very unlikely that anyone will come forward since most people who use Bitcoin do it for privacy, and they'll likely draw the attention of local authorities if it was to be revealed they attempted to move such large funds via Bitcoin instead of local banks.