Cryptocurrency Novice Accidentally Ended Up With £185,000 Bitcoin

A cryptocurrency novice accidentally ended up with £185,000 ($260,000) in Bitcoin after a blunder on his account.

Steve Brooks - who has only been dabbling for a month - couldn't believe his eyes when he noticed the bungled transfer.

Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi had sent the 38-year-old an email saying he had won it as part of a promotion, despite only having £60 ($85) worth in his accounts at the time.

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So the consultant was shocked when the huge sum of money - 5.23 Bitcoin worth $261,000 showed in his account.

He said: "I had no idea what was going on. I assumed it must have been legitimate, as it is very hard to scam people with cryptocurrency."

Steve attempted to transfer the Bitcoin into another cryptocurrency wallet - to check the validity of the money. It went through successfully - and Steve thought he was quid's in.

He went on: "I could have done anything with it at that point - changed it into another currency or withdrawn it into my bank account."

BlockFi - the US-based cryptocurrency lender which had accidentally sent Steve the money - began threatening him with legal action unless he returned it.

The start-up had reportedly sent millions of pounds in Bitcoin to customers erroneously as part of a promotion scheme.

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One user on Twitter claimed he had been sent the equivalent of 700 Bitcoin, or £21 million ($29m).

In an email to Steve, the lender said: "Failure to return the erroneously received assets constitutes a crime and will result in BlockFi taking legal action." Gutted for Steve.

Steve, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, consulted with lawyers over the payment. After several emails and calls with the co-founder of the company, he agreed to return the Bitcoin in exchange for £3,500 ($4,900) compensation payment. Every cloud, eh?

He said: "After a few days of sitting on it, I've made a bit of money. There's still the thought in the back of my mind that what if I'd held onto the Bitcoin."

In a statement on Twitter, BlockFi said: "Some clients who participated in the March trading promotion may see an inaccurate bonus payment displayed in their transaction history.

"Our team is working on a fix and the proper amounts will be reflected shortly."

LADbible has contacted BlockFi for a comment.

Topics: Cryptocurrency, Community, UK

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

@RJShepherd94