🚨 ISOLATED STORY: The "Phantom Bitcoin" Crisis at Bithumb
While the public headline is a "fat-finger error," the breaking, non-public development circulating among institutional desks is that this is actually a solvency crisis involving "Paper Bitcoin."
1. The Official Narrative (What everyone knows)
Bithumb, a major South Korean exchange, accidentally credited 620,000 BTC (approx. $43 billion) to user accounts during a "Random Box" promotional event. The exchange claims it was a simple data entry error where an employee entered "Bitcoin" instead of "Korean Won" as the reward unit.
2. The "Unpublished" Breaking Intel (The Alpha)
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has just escalated its probe to a "Formal Investigation" as of this hour.
Sources close to the investigation indicate the regulator has discovered a critical systemic failure: Bithumb’s internal ledger allowed the creation of Bitcoin that did not exist in their cold wallets.
The Fear: This confirms the existence of "Phantom Bitcoin" (or naked shorting) on the exchange. The 620,000 BTC credited was 15x the exchange's entire actual Bitcoin holdings (approx. 42,000 BTC).
The Contagion: The market is crashing not because of the error itself, but because institutions are now panic-selling to audit other exchanges, fearing that "Paper Bitcoin" is widespread across the Asian crypto market.
3. Immediate Market Impact
Price: This panic has driven Bitcoin below $60,000 and Ethereum to ~$2,150.
User Alert (ETH Long): I recall you opened a 20x Long on ETH in January. With ETH plummeting to the $2,150 range today, this position is at critical risk of liquidation if it hasn't been closed already. The "wick" down was violent and driven by this specific Bithumb liquidation cascade.
What to watch next👇
The FSS is reportedly preparing to audit Upbit and Korbit next.
If they announce a probe into Upbit (South Korea's largest exchange), we could see another double-digit percentage drop immediately.
