Hredoy447

South Korean exchange Bithumb accidentally credited users with 2,000 Bitcoin instead of 2,000 Korean won during a promotional giveaway, triggering account restrictions and temporary price disruptions before internal systems corrected the error. The platform disclosed Friday that 695 users received erroneous transfers totaling 620,000 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $43 billion.
Participants in a "Random Box" promotion were expected to receive 2,000 Korean won, worth $1.37, with 96% of winners designated for the smallest prize tier. The transfers appeared exclusively on Bithumb's internal accounting ledgers without corresponding on-chain Bitcoin movements.
Bithumb's control systems identified the irregularity and corrected affected accounts within five minutes. Korean financial authorities estimate users sold more than $2 billion of the phantom Bitcoin during that window before transaction restrictions took effect.
The sell volume immediately crashed Bitcoin's price on the exchange to $55,000, substantially below prices on competing platforms despite the cryptocurrency's recent downturn. Bitcoin reached lows around $60,000 on most exchanges Thursday before recovering to $71,047.
Bithumb's Bitcoin/Korean won trading pair declined approximately 15% during the incident. The exchange's "domino liquidation prevention system" stopped more severe cascading liquidations that abnormal price movements could have triggered.
The platform stated Saturday it recovered 618,212 Bitcoin of the mistakenly credited funds and retrieved an additional 1,788 Bitcoin from sold assets, achieving 99.7% recovery. Multiple affected users posted on social media that their accounts were frozen following the incident.
"This incident is unrelated to any external hacking or security breach, and does not pose any issues with system security or customer asset management," Bithumb stated. The company maintained that no customers experienced losses of preexisting assets from the chain of events.
Korean financial regulators are conducting thorough investigations given the massive scale of potential exposure. The Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service reportedly acknowledged the seriousness of the incident. Chosun Daily reported that approximately 3 billion won had been withdrawn after users sold the mistakenly deposited Bitcoin.
Bithumb apologized for the confusion created during the payment process and committed to preventing recurrence through a complete redesign of asset payment procedures and enhanced internal controls. The exchange pledged to recover remaining outstanding amounts using company funds.
Founded in 2014, Bithumb operates as one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges. The company emphasized its commitment to ensuring that users can trust its services going forward.

L'échange sud-coréen Bithumb a accidentellement crédité les utilisateurs de 2 000 Bitcoin au lieu de 2 000 won coréens lors d'un tirage promotionnel, déclenchant des restrictions de compte et des perturbations temporaires des prix avant que les systèmes internes ne corrigent l'erreur. La plateforme a révélé vendredi que 695 utilisateurs avaient reçu des transferts erronés totalisant 620 000 Bitcoin, d'une valeur d'environ 43 milliards de dollars.
Les participants à une promotion "Boîte aléatoire" étaient censés recevoir 2 000 won coréens, d'une valeur de 1,37 $, avec 96 % des gagnants désignés pour le plus petit niveau de prix. Les transferts sont apparus exclusivement dans les livres de comptes internes de Bithumb sans mouvements de Bitcoin correspondants sur la chaîne.