Doncaster cryptocurrency novice ends up with £185,000 in account 'by mistake'

Crypto lender and trading platform BlockFi has admitted it made incorrect transfers to around 100 investors and has asked for the money back.

According to The Sun, Steve Brooks had only been trading with BlockFi for a month but took part in a promotion that paid users free Bitcoins (BTC) if they made trades during March.

The 38-year-old consultant had only £60 worth of cryptos in his account before the promotion but was shocked when he logged in this month to see he had been sent 5.3 (BTC) worth $261,000 as a "reward" from BlockFi.

Steve said: "I had no idea what was going on."

He added: "I could have done anything with it at that point - changed it into another currency or withdrawn it into my bank account."

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

The Doncaster-based investor consulted with lawyers over the payment and eventually decided to send the money back in return for £3,500 compensation.

BlockFi said in a statement on Twitter that approximately 100 clients were able to "access erroneous deposits and withdraw funds from the platform on 17 May."

It said: "The company’s exposure is currently approximately $10 million and decreasing quickly as clients are returning funds.

"We are incredibly grateful for our clients understanding the mistake and returning funds that did not belong to them.