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South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said it inadvertently distributed more than $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to users, according to Reuters. The incident occurred on February 6, when the exchange mistakenly distributed a total of about 620,000 Bitcoin, worth roughly $44 billion at the market price at the time.
Bithumb said it recovered 99.7% of the mis-distributed Bitcoin and imposed trading and withdrawal restrictions on 695 affected customers within 35 minutes of the incident.
The exchange initially planned to distribute small rewards of 2,000 Korean won (about $1.4) or more per user under a promotional program. Due to a mis-transmission, the winners received at least 2,000 Bitcoin (about $138 million) per person.
Bithumb said the incident was not related to an external hack or a security breach, adding that there were no issues with system security or customers’ asset management.
Korean financial regulators, including the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said the incident “exposed weaknesses and risks in digital assets.” Following an urgent meeting, regulators said they would conduct direct inspections at Bithumb and other crypto exchanges if anomalies are found during internal controls reviews, as well as asset holdings and activities.
After the mis-distribution, Bitcoin price on Bithumb fell unexpectedly by about 17%, dropping to around 81.1 million won (about $55,400) in the short term due to local selling pressure. The price later rebounded to around 104.5 million won (about $71,400) as bargain-hunting returned.
Bithumb’s level was higher than the global price (around $69,000), reflecting the domestic exchange rate difference. The exchange said the rebound indicated a return to stability after the technical shock.
In Korea, Bithumb currently ranks behind only Upbit, the largest crypto exchange in the country.
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