Which is the real funding account? Duplicate funder in blockchain

Question

I'm looking at account creation and found something that I though was impossible. Maybe I just don't understand what is happening.

According to https://horizon.stellar.org/operations?order=desc&cursor=33676838572033 we see funder and account for an 'create_account' record.

"funder": "GAAZI4TCR3TY5OJHCTJC2A4QSY6CJWJH5IAJTGKIN2ER7LBNVKOCCWN7", "account": "GALPCCZN4YXA3YMJHKL6CVIECKPLJJCTVMSNYWBTKJW4K5HQLYLDMZTB"

But according to https://horizon.stellar.org/operations?order=desc&cursor=27692931217367041 we see a different 'create_account' record with a different funder.

"funder": "GAS2FDJIROHCJDM43TKDOPDSCYMVPGMULGF42QR65FINKVXHNDJTJC6E", "account": "GALPCCZN4YXA3YMJHKL6CVIECKPLJJCTVMSNYWBTKJW4K5HQLYLDMZTB"

How is this possible? Are the two accounts (GAL) the same? How can they have two funders (GAS and GAA)? Can one create an account more than once?

Answer 1

There is nothing strange in this situation. Account GAL…ZTB was created by GAA…WN7, then merged into GAE…WFK, then funded (created) again by GAS…C6E. Check detailed account history here.

Are the two accounts (GAL) the same?

Yes and no. The keypair is the same, but accounts are not associated because once an account is merged, it does not exist for Stellar Network anymore. In this particular case someone just reused the private key.

Can one create an account more than once?

Yes, an account can be created again if it was previously removed (merged).