Bitfinex Crypto Exchange Mistakenly Sends $24 Million Worth of Tether in ‘Fat Finger Error’

Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, got back over $22 million (roughly over Rs. 163 crores) worth of Tether cryptocurrency that had been spent by mistake. Earlier this week, Bitfinex mistakenly paid $24 million (roughly Rs.178 crores) in fees while sending $100,000 (Rs. 74.2 lakhs) of Ether. The actual fee was just $33 (roughly Rs. 2,449). The amount was deducted from one of Bitfinex's mail wallets. People have been calling the incident a classic “fat finger” error.

"On the 27th September a deposit transaction was made using a hardware wallet from the main DeversiFi user interface," news portal TheBlockCrypto quoted a spokesperson for DeversiFi as saying.

The hefty Tether transaction was transferred to an unknown high-ranking Ethereum miner, who returned the sum.

While the exact reason for this error remains unknown, DeversiFi has claimed that it has launched an investigation into the subject.

It also remains unclear what will happen to the balance over $2 million (roughly Rs. 15 crores) that still have not been returned to Bitfinex's cryptocurrency wallet.

Meanwhile, as reported by Business Insider, Ethereum transaction fees have witnessed an increment following the heavy use of this blockchain network.

In June 2020, two Ethereum transactions collectively added up to a gas fee of $5.2 million (roughly Rs. 38.6 crores).

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