Korean crypto exchange Bithumb says it recovered nearly all of the more than $40 billion worth of funds it mistakenly handed out to customers as part of a promotional campaign.
Bithumb announced the promo on February 5, promising new registrants on the platform a total ₩100,000 ($68) in benefits. It planned to start this with an initial ₩20,000 ($13) payment deposited into users’ accounts after their first transaction, with subsequent bonuses, including points and Starbucks vouchers, tied to completing additional steps such as verification and coupon entry.
However, the platform accidentally credited 620,000 bitcoin (~$42 billion) to the accounts of 695 users the following day – around $61 million each, if divided equally among them all.
In a company announcement, Bithumb claimed it realized that it made hundreds of users incredibly wealthy within 35 minutes, and although some users were quick to sell their newfound gains, the company recovered the majority of the funds very quickly.
“Immediately following the incident, Bithumb immediately [sic] implemented measures to recover overpaid assets, and prioritized ensuring complete consistency of customer assets, including even the slightest discrepancies that may occur during the recovery process,” it said in a press release.
“As a result, 99.7 percent of the overpaid Bitcoin was recovered on the day of the incident, and the 0.3 percent (1,788 BTC) that had already been sold was injected with company assets, ensuring 100 percent consistency between customer deposited assets and exchange-held assets.
“Currently, Bithumb holds all virtual assets, including Bitcoin, at a level that matches or exceeds user deposits, and customer assets are being safely stored as before.”
The company said that the overpayment incident was simply an error on its side and was not related to a cyberattack or breach of its systems.
It went on to say that it does not believe any customers’ assets were lost or otherwise damaged as a result, despite the price of Bitcoin briefly falling sharply.
After Bithumb confirmed total consistency between customer-platform assets, CEO Lee Jae-won announced a compensation scheme for those affected.
Lee said all customers connected to the platform at the time of the error would be compensated ₩20,000, and any user who sold Bitcoin at a low price caused by the incident would receive a refund of the selling price plus 10 percent of the transaction’s value.
Beginning at midnight on February 9, Bithumb also paused trading fees for all tokens for seven days.
Additionally, it established a Customer Protection Fund of ₩100 billion ($68.5 million) – a reserve so that in any similar incident that should occur in the future, customers will be protected immediately.
And it wouldn’t be a 2026 apology without the promise of more AI. Coming soon is an “Anomalous Transaction Detection and Automatic Blocking AI System” called Safe Guard that’s designed to stop transactions that appear abnormal for any reason.
Other technical preventative measures include a strengthening of its asset verification system and the introduction of a two-payment process for asset transfers and reward payments.
Bithumb has been hot on comms since the incident, posting frequent, easily accessible updates, but the regulators are still circling.
Lee Eog-weon, chairman at the Korean Financial Services Commission, the country’s superseding financial regulator, called an emergency meeting on February 8 to discuss how to proceed with Bithumb.
Officials from Korea’s financial crime authority and financial institutions regulator were in attendance. They acknowledged the steps Bithumb took to remedy the issues with customers and the price of Bitcoin, but further investigations into user damages and on-site inspections will take place. ®