South Korean Regulator: Users Who Received Incorrect Tokens from Bithumb are Legally Obligated to Return Assets

Cryptocurrency News: On February 9, according to Reuters, Lee Chan-jin, the head of the Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea, stated at a press conference on February 9 that the recent incident where Bithumb inadvertently distributed over $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to customers has exposed structural issues in the electronic system for virtual assets, indicating a need for strengthened regulation to address the vulnerabilities in the cryptocurrency sector. Lee noted that this incident reveals the necessity for significant improvements in the regulatory framework as virtual assets are integrated into the traditional financial system. He particularly emphasized that the issue of "ghost currencies" must be resolved first for cryptocurrencies to become traditional financial assets. Preliminary investigation results from financial authorities indicate that 99.7% of the 620,000 Bitcoin mistakenly issued by Bithumb on Friday have been recovered. Of the 1,786 Bitcoin sold before trading was suspended, 93% have been recovered.