Compound Labs Founder Sends Out The IRS Threat To Seek Funds Paid Out In Error Back And Crypto-Twitter Is Having None Of It

Robert Leshner, the self-described “shadowy super-coder” who founded Compound Labs, the company associated with Compound COMP/USD, wants the incorrect amount of COMP paid out due to a protocol error returned, or else it would be reported to the U.S. tax authorities. 

What Happened: Leshner took to Twitter to issue the warning to those who received the funds. The entrepreneur left a cryptocurrency address in the tweet for returning the largesse made in error with the advice, “Keep 10% as a white-hat.”

See Also: How To Buy Compound (COMP)

If the funds are not returned, Leshner warned, “it's being reported as income to the IRS, and most of you are doxxed.”

If you received a large, incorrect amount of COMP from the Compound protocol error:

Please return it to the Compound Timelock (0x6d903f6003cca6255D85CcA4D3B5E5146dC33925). Keep 10% as a white-hat.

Otherwise, it's being reported as income to the IRS, and most of you are doxxed.

— Robert Leshner (@rleshner) October 1, 2021

Doxxing refers to the publication of private information about an individual on the internet. 

Why It Matters: On Thursday, it was reported that due to issues with a COMP upgrade, $80 million was accidentally rewarded to users.

See Also: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Buoyant Exiting September, Analysts Watch For October Recovery

The problem occurred after the deployment of Proposal 62, which originally intended to split COMP rewards distribution and bug fixes. 

Leshner’s warning was met with ridicule by the cryptocurrency community on Twitter with some posters taking exception to his wording.

What is the IRS going to do when I live in the Himalayas bitch?

— thesnakecharmer☀ (@snakecharmerXBT) October 1, 2021

Threatening to DOX and report people is a pretty damn bad strategy dude. Makes people more likely to keep it, and makes money a lot less likely to come into your platform in the future.

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) October 1, 2021

Leshner acknowledged that his tweet was “bone-headed” in a separate tweet and said he is trying to “do anything I can to help the community get some of its COMP back.”

I'm trying to do anything I can to help the community get some of its COMP back, and this was a bone-headed tweet / approach. That's on me.

Luckily, the community is much bigger, and smarter, than just me.

I appreciate your ridicule and support.

— Robert Leshner (@rleshner) October 1, 2021

Price Action: At press time, COMP traded 8.8% higher at $321.57 over 24 hours. The coin has fallen 8.3% over a seven-day period.
COMP traded 4.59% higher against Bitcoin BTC/USD and 3.9% higher against Ethereum ETH/USD.

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