Why Exchanges Always Reclaim Glitched Funds

1. Legal Obligations (They Have to Get It Back)
Exchanges are regulated financial entities—if they lose track of funds due to a bug, they must:
       - Report the loss to auditors and regulators.
       - Attempt recovery (or face fines for poor controls).
       - Sue users who refuse to return money (see: Kraken, Crypto.com cases).

2. The "Unjust Enrichment" Rule
Lawyers call keeping mistaken funds "unjust enrichment"—and courts always side with exchanges:
       - Crypto.com (2021) – Sent $10.5M to a woman by accident, sued her after she spent $1M on a mansion.
       - Kraken (2022) – User received $4.2M in free ETH from a bug; Kraken froze assets and sued.

3. Fear of Precedent ("What If Everyone Kept Glitch Money?")
If exchanges let one user keep funds, it would:
       - Encourage fraudulent claims of "glitches."
       - Destroy trust in their accounting systems.
       - Trigger regulatory crackdowns.

When Exceptions Almost Happened (But Didn’t)
A few near-misses made headlines:
       - Celsius (2023) – Accidentally sent 5x bankruptcy repayments to users… then demanded refunds.
       - Polygon (2022) – A $2B bug was caught by white-hat hackers (not exploited by users).
       - Binance (2019) – A BTC pricing glitch let users buy cheap Bitcoin—but trades were reversed.

The Pattern? No one gets to keep the money.

What Actually Happens If You Receive "Glitch Money"
1. The exchange freezes your account (instantly).
2. You get an email demanding repayment (often with legal threats).
3. If you spend it? You’ll be sued—or even charged with theft.

Real-World Consequences:
       - Crypto.com’s $10.5M Error – The recipient had to sell her house to pay it back.
       - Kraken’s $4.2M ETH Bug – User’s assets were seized after refusing to return funds.

Why Does This Myth Persist?
People want to believe in "free money" stories because:
       - Crypto feels anonymous (but exchanges have your KYC data).
       - DeFi protocols sometimes lose funds forever (but CEXs don’t).
       - Viral rumors (e.g., "Someone kept a $1M Coinbase glitch!"—never verified).

🎯 Key Takeaways
✅ Fact: Exchanges do mess up and send money to wrong users.
❌ Fiction: Those users never get to keep it.
⚠️ Lesson: If an exchange sends you "free" crypto, don’t touch it—lawyers are coming.