Bithumb Mistakenly Credits About $44 Billion in Bitcoin to Users
Exchange suspended trading and withdrawals within 35 minutes and recovered more than 99 percent of funds after miscrediting about $44 billion in bitcoin.
Overview
Bithumb said it mistakenly credited roughly $44 billion worth of bitcoin to about 695 users, suspended trading and withdrawals within 35 minutes, and recovered more than 99 percent of the funds.
South Korea's Financial Services Commission said it will investigate the incident and the Financial Supervisory Service warned any sign of illegal activity would prompt formal probes into the exchange.
Lee Jae-won, Bithumb's CEO, apologized and said the company will pay 20,000 won to customers active at the time and waive trading fees, adding the error was not due to a security breach.
Blockchain trackers and some reports cited about 620,000 bitcoin miscredited—roughly $43 billion—and trading on Bithumb briefly fell about 10 percent, a scale that Arkham Intelligence said contrasts with its estimated $5.3 billion in assets.
Regulators said they will examine other exchanges for similar vulnerabilities, and Bithumb said it will cooperate as formal investigations and potential customer claims proceed.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story as evidence of systemic exchange risk, using sensational language ('jaw-dropping') and selective emphasis on Bithumb's hacks and raids. Editorial choices foreground Arkham data and the Mt. Gox analogy, while Bithumb's denial is presented as source content and quickly contextualized to underscore institutional weakness.
Sources (3)
FAQ
A staff member entered the currency unit as Bitcoin (BTC) instead of Korean won (KRW) during a 'Random Box' promotional event, intending to distribute small cash prizes totaling 620,000 won but crediting 620,000 BTC instead.
Bithumb detected the issue within 20 minutes, suspended trading and withdrawals within 35 minutes, recovered over 99% of the funds by restoring ledger balances, and confirmed no security breach occurred.
Bitcoin prices on Bithumb's BTC/KRW pair dropped 10-22% below other exchanges for about 5 minutes due to selloffs by affected users, but the exchange's systems prevented cascading liquidations.
South Korea's Financial Services Commission will investigate the incident, the Financial Supervisory Service warned of formal probes for illegal activity, and regulators plan to examine other exchanges for vulnerabilities.
About 695 users were affected, with around 240 selling some BTC leading to ~3 billion won withdrawn; Bithumb's CEO apologized, will pay 20,000 won to active customers, and waive trading fees.
History
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