Quick Summary:
One of the users transferred a rare Bitcoin Ordinal to the BTC deposit address on Binance because of a mistake.
Binance does not allow Ordinals and was not able to retrieve the asset.
The Ordinal subsequently was put on sale on Magic Eden, generating indignation.
Social media objections of theft fell against Binance.
The actual twist? There was an ordinary withdrawal on which the Ordinal was sent to a random user, at the time without his/her knowledge.
This event featured a niche that referred to as a sats panning.
No ill intent on the side of Binance, but an odd case of blockchain fortune.
The error that provoked tremor
The crypto user was in the news of late after sending a rare Bitcoin Ordinal, which is a sort of a non-fungibility token-friendly collectible, to Binance by error. Although guards pointed out that nothing except normal BTC should be sent to Binance addresses, the customer proceeded with the transfer and after subsequently contacting the support was informed that the money was permanently lost.
Accusations Fly
The user thought he lost the collectible, and then he found it on Magic Eden. Indignant, he made an accusation of Binance selling the Ordinal behind the back, and the topic ignited on X (Twitter formerly). Binance was called a criminal organization because critics blamed the company and founder Changpeng Zhao to reveal answers.
The Setting: The Perspective of Sats Panning appears:
The user was able to take down his post even before the controversies got out of hand. Why? He got to know about sats panning – a crypto hobby in which individuals will deposit and withdraw bitcoin repeatedly to get rare satoshis with embedded Ordinals.
At marketplaces such as Binance, the deposits by customers are combined. The withdrawal of the random satoshis sends out random satoshis – so the chance satoshi simply happened to be sent to a random user. That user has unintentionally sold the Ordinal and this has caused the entire storm.
An Accused Mistake
No employee of Binance used the Ordinal. It was just taken out of a bitcoin pool of the exchange by a sats panner who hit the jackpot unaware.
Although Binance missed the chance to officially comment on the situation, the misunderstanding casts light both to the responsibility of a user and the eccentric nature of the blockchain culture.