In a shocking error, the company accidentally sent out more than $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to its users, triggering chaos across the crypto world and raising serious legal and ethical questions.
A Simple Promotion, A Massive Error
The incident took place on February 6, during what was supposed to be a routine promotional event. Bithumb planned to reward 695 users with 620,000 South Korean won, roughly $423 each. But instead of sending Korean currency, a company employee mistakenly sent 620,000 Bitcoins. That single mix-up turned a small giveaway into one of the most expensive mistakes in crypto history.
Who Took the Money?
Out of the 695 eligible users, 249 opened their reward boxes and claimed the funds. While most of the wrongly credited Bitcoin was later recovered, the company confirmed that around $9 million worth could not be retrieved.
The reason?
Some users sold the Bitcoin, while others withdrew the funds before the error was discovered.
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) did not take the incident lightly. FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun called the situation “devastating” for users who rushed to sell the Bitcoin.
Legal experts warn that those users could face criminal charges, since cryptocurrency is not legally recognized as currency under South Korean criminal law. In simple terms, selling assets you were never meant to receive could be treated as a crime.
Internal Flaws Exposed
Bitcoin prices have risen in recent days, making the losses even more painful. Regulators say the incident highlights serious internal control failures at Bithumb.
The exchange stated that it has already recovered 99.7 Bitcoins by reversing internal processes and issuing formal apologies. However, 86 users had already sold 1,788 Bitcoins, leaving the company with no direct way to reclaim them.
Now, Bithumb is contacting those users one by one, asking them to return the equivalent value in cash.
A Costly Lesson
What began as a simple marketing campaign has turned into a hard lesson about human error, weak safeguards, and the fragile trust in digital finance.
In the fast moving world of crypto, this incident proves one thing clearly, sometimes, a single mistake is all it takes to shake an entire system.
