Binance recovers R$1 billion in cryptocurrencies transferred by mistake 3 years ago
In 2021, FalconX, a cryptocurrency trading company, received around 1.35 million Solana units, equivalent to US$190 million today (R$1 billion, at the current exchange rate). But there was a problem: the company did not know the reason for the transfer. Now, the mystery has come to an end.
This week, it was finally revealed that the units actually belonged to Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world. And the exchange revealed that the amount ended up being transferred by mistake to FalconX, in an operation that took years to unravel.
At the time, FalconX commented that there was no type of information or notification along with the record of the transfer via blockchain, something that would be possible and is widely used by users. It would be the equivalent of sending a Pix with a message to the recipient of the amount.
At the time, Solana's price was high, which intrigued the company even more. Months later, however, the cryptocurrency would end up plummeting with the bankruptcy of FTX. But Solana had a strong recovery in 2023 and this year, making the amount received by mistake significant again.
The mystery surrounding the transfer led FalconX to choose to keep the assets untouched. And, recently, Binance identified the Solana units as belonging to it. The exchange is one of FalconX's liquidity partners, which may have led to the error.
However, Binance has no official explanation for having transferred a millionaire amount of cryptocurrencies to the company. In the end, FalconX agreed to return the assets to the exchange, which therefore did not have to suffer a loss due to the initial error.
Although the amount caught the attention of investors, they represent a small fraction of the total assets that Binance has as a reserve for liquidity. The exchange has more than US$ 110 billion in asset reserves, including Solana.
