South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, is scrambling to recover vast sums of digital assets after a staff error led to the accidental distribution of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins to customers during a promotional event.
According to the company, customers were mistakenly credited with 620,000 bitcoins instead of 620,000 South Korean won, an amount normally equivalent to a few hundred US dollars. At current market values, the error briefly translated into cryptocurrency worth more than $40 billion, triggering alarm across the exchange and the wider crypto industry.
Bithumb said the mistake was identified shortly after it occurred and corrective action was immediately taken. The exchange managed to reverse the majority of the erroneous credits before funds were moved. However, it confirmed that approximately 13 billion won (around $9 million) remains unrecovered after some recipients sold or withdrew the bitcoin before the error was detected.
In a public apology, Bithumb attributed the incident to internal staff error and said it was working with affected users to recover the remaining assets. The exchange also indicated that it is reviewing internal controls and operational procedures to prevent a recurrence.
South Korea’s cryptocurrency sector is among the most active in the world and is closely monitored by regulators following past market shocks and exchange failures. While no security breach was reported in this case, the incident has raised renewed concerns about operational risk and internal safeguards at large crypto platforms.
Authorities have not announced formal sanctions, but industry analysts say the episode is likely to intensify regulatory scrutiny of exchange systems, particularly around transaction controls and promotional campaigns. Bithumb said it remains committed to user protection and transparency as recovery efforts continue.
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