South Korea’s financial regulator has launched an investigation into crypto exchange Bithumb after the platform accidentally credited users with around 620,000 BTC (about $43B).
The mistake happened on Feb 6 during a promotional campaign when a staff member reportedly entered BTC instead of KRW as the reward unit. What started as a routine check quickly escalated, with regulators calling it a serious threat to market stability.
Bithumb said:
99.7% of the mistakenly credited BTC has been recovered
93% of the 1,788 BTC that users managed to sell before trading was halted has been recovered
About 125 BTC are still missing
The incident also caused a roughly 15% drop in the BTC/KRW price on the exchange. Bithumb has pledged 110% compensation to affected users.
The case raised broader concerns about internal accounting versus actual on-chain custody, as Bithumb reportedly held only around 46,000 BTC at the time, despite internally moving 620,000 BTC. Lawmakers warned it resembled a “bank-run scenario,” sparking discussions about limiting individual exchange holdings and aligning crypto exchange liabilities with traditional financial rules.
Bithumb plans to strengthen internal controls and launch a ₩100B ($68M) user protection fund, signaling that regulators are becoming far less tolerant of such mistakes.
