Summary
A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, accidentally distributed $40 billion worth of bitcoin to customers instead of a small cash reward. The company quickly identified the mistake and recovered almost all of the bitcoins. Bithumb has promised to enhance its systems and cooperate with regulators to prevent similar incidents.
Key Facts
- Bithumb is a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.
- The firm accidentally sent out 2,000 bitcoins instead of 2,000 won to customers.
- Bithumb recovered 99.7% of the 620,000 bitcoins sent by mistake.
- Trading and withdrawals for 695 affected customers were restricted within 35 minutes.
- The incident was not caused by hacking or security issues.
- South Korea’s financial regulator plans to investigate the incident.
- Bithumb will compensate affected users and improve its verification systems.
- The error is not the first large financial mistake; Citigroup also had a similar error in 2024.
