CORRECTION (Oct. 8, 2024, 18:42 UTC): An earlier version of this story asserted that FalconX lost track of who the 1.35 million solana tokens belonged

Binance, FalconX and the Curious Case of 1.35M Missing Solana Tokens

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2024-10-19 19:00:05

CORRECTION (Oct. 8, 2024, 18:42 UTC): An earlier version of this story asserted that FalconX lost track of who the 1.35 million solana tokens belonged to. FalconX said it never knew who sent the SOL, because no identifying information was tied to the transaction.

According to FalconX, there was no record attached to the transaction identifying who sent the money. At the time, SOL fetched around $20 to $30 – making this a not-insubstantial sum that mysteriously landed in the company's lap.

After FTX collapsed in late 2022, solana cratered below $10. But then it massively rebounded, and today those tokens are worth $190 million.

Recently, Binance, the largest crypto exchange and a key liquidity partner of FalconX, finally came forward as the rightful owner and asked for its SOL back. FalconX turned it over.

It's unclear exactly how this apparent mistake was made. The situation raises questions about accounting systems and controls – though even at the newly elevated SOL prices, the misplaced tokens are chump change to Binance, which has over $110 billion of assets in reserve and services over 90 million customers worldwide.