- Trending
- Comments
- Latest
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb mistakenly credited customers with 620,000 Bitcoin—worth approximately $41 billion—instead of 620,000 won ($424) during a promotional campaign, allowing 86 users to sell the assets before transactions were halted and triggering a regulatory investigation that now threatens the CEO’s reappointment.
The Bithumb error occurred during what was meant to be a modest promotional giveaway. Bithumb had planned to distribute small rewards totaling 620,000 won (about $424) to 249 customers. Instead, due to an employee mistake, the exchange credited 620,000 bitcoins to participating users’ accounts.
At the time, bitcoin was trading near 98 million won, valuing the erroneous distribution at roughly 62 trillion won ($41 billion). This figure far exceeded Bithumb’s actual bitcoin holdings, which stood at around 42,800 bitcoins according to its most recent quarterly report.
The exchange halted transactions at around 7:40 p.m. Friday after detecting the Bithumb error and began efforts to retrieve the misallocated assets. However, before the freeze, some customers were able to sell the credited bitcoins on the platform and withdraw funds.
Financial authorities said that while most of the sold bitcoins have since been recovered, 125 bitcoins — worth about 13 billion won — remain outstanding. Of that amount, approximately 3 billion won has already been transferred into customers’ bank accounts, while the remaining 10 billion won was used to purchase other virtual assets.
“We are individually contacting customers who have already sold off the wrongly sent bitcoins and persuading them to return the money, while also coordinating methods to recoup them,” — an official from Bithumb said.
The fallout from the Bithumb error has drawn swift attention from regulators, who are now investigating how the exchange was able to credit assets far beyond its actual holdings.
Financial authorities launched a formal probe on Monday, following an on-site inspection by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) three days earlier.
Regulators and lawmakers have criticized the incident as more than a simple human mistake, arguing that it exposed structural weaknesses in ledger management and internal control systems. The fact that book-entry assets could be created, traded, and partially withdrawn has amplified concerns over systemic risk within crypto exchanges.
“We view the incident as a grave matter and will respond firmly to any actions found to have undermined market integrity,” — an FSS official said.
The Bithumb error has also prompted political attention. The National Assembly has agreed to summon Bithumb founder Lee Jung-hoon to an emergency hearing scheduled for Wednesday, alongside CEO Lee Jae-won and senior officials from the Financial Services Commission, the FSS, and the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit.
While such requests are not legally binding, the move underscores the seriousness with which lawmakers are treating the episode.
Beyond immediate financial recovery, the Bithumb error has cast a shadow over the future of CEO Lee Jae-won, whose reappointment for a third term had been widely expected. Industry officials now say the unprecedented scale of the mishap could complicate that decision, depending on how the fallout is managed.
“Until the bitcoin misallocation came to light, there was a broad consensus that CEO Lee Jae-won was headed for a third term, but the incident could undermine his position depending on how the fallout is handled,” — a crypto industry source said.
Lee’s current term expires in late March. He has been credited internally with expanding Bithumb’s market share to around 30 percent and advancing new services such as coin lending. Another industry source noted that, despite the Bithumb error, internal sentiment still favors continuity in leadership.
“Internally, Lee’s leadership is seen as firmly established and unlikely to be easily shaken,” — the source said.
The ownership structure of Bithumb, formally clarified last year when authorities identified founder Lee Jung-hoon as the controlling figure, has also come back into focus. As investigations continue, regulators are expected to examine not only the operational lapse but also broader governance practices tied to the Bithumb error.
For South Korea’s crypto market, the episode has become a defining moment, highlighting the risks embedded in centralized exchanges and reinforcing calls for tighter controls as digital assets become more deeply integrated into the financial system.
