It has been a rollercoaster experience for the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry recently in terms of reputation and integrity. But a user who voluntarily reversed an accidental $80000 Bitcoin transaction has heads turning and the internet buzzing. How did he end up with some strange $80000 in his account? Who does the money belong to and what happened after the discovery?



Does Bitcoin Promote Fraud?

For Bitcoin and crypto enthusiasts, one of the strengths of the technology is that it makes it easy to trace transactions. However, Bitcoin accounts are simply represented by a series of codes. This gives the technology an anonymous outlook, and the impression created by critics is that many people who are involved in the technology do so with ulterior motives.



Some occurrences in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem have helped critics to push their arguments. Many ponzi schemes took advantage of the flexible nature of the technology and left dark spots on the reputation of the industry. Also, regional blackmails in some developing countries like Nigeria have not helped the situation.



The fact that this act of uprightness and show of integrity comes from such a region that has struggled with its reputation in the financial world speaks volumes. It is a bright light, not just for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but also for Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Keith Mali Chung is the bearer of this bright light.



On 12 September 2019, Keith Mali Chung, whose handle on Twitter is @BitcoinKeith tweeted:



Please RT,



I received huge sum of BTC from an unknown sender and it’s definitely a mistake from someone I must have had transaction with before, Kindly DM me time of transaction, your adress and exact digits sent..

thank you. Kindly retweet — Bitcoin Keith (The African Bitcoin Bull)🇳🇬 (@BitcoinKeith) September 12, 2019



Keith Mali Chung’s Motivation



Keith is a small-scale Bitcoin trader and acclaimed crypto educator that is based in Nigeria. According to him, he received 7.8 BTC in his Bitcoin wallet of which he had no prior knowledge about. With his tweet he wanted to find out who it was that sent him the money. He believed that the transaction must have been an error, and nobly wanted to return the funds to the original owner.



Of course, being an experienced practitioner in the industry, he requested the respondent to produce the hash ID of the transaction. This is a validation code that confirms the true origin of the transaction. This is one of the strong points that Bitcoin proponents boast about. Every transaction has a unique validation code that can be used for verification. On producing the code, Keith sent the money back to the owner who pleaded anonymity.



According to Keith, part of what motivated him to make this move, neglecting contrary advice from some people around him is to promote a change in his society. That is the story of an accidental $80,000 Bitcoin transaction.



He said:



“To be honest, we are in a society where crime and bad names have been labelled on us, but you have to be what you want to see. So, I want to be the change I want to see in my community”.



Corruption is Based on Personal decision, not Technology



Some of the bad reputations that Keith wants to correct include examples like the FBI-80. A list which paraded the names of internet fraudsters from Nigeria, after one of the kingpins by the alias “Invictus” made so much money that shot him into the “forbes 30” list. Another recent bad example is the kidnappers who forced their victim to pay ransom in Bitcoins in the attempt of being untraceable.



Apparently, Bitcoin is not all about bad news and criticism. Far from that, it is actually a viable solution to the financial problems of the world. The bad reputation so far has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the technology.



It is the humans that are independently good or bad. This story of an accidental $80,000 Bitcoin transaction is a typical example. After all, it is on record that for every single incident of money laundered in Bitcoin, there are 800 others carried out in fiat currencies.