South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb recently revealed a significant operational error, mistakenly distributing over $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to its customers during a promotional rewards event. This unprecedented incident, which occurred due to an incorrect processing of a planned cash giveaway, caused sharp price volatility for Bitcoin last week.

The error unfolded when a reward intended to be approximately 2,000 Korean won, or about $1.40, was erroneously processed, resulting in some users receiving at least 2,000 Bitcoin each. In total, the exchange accidentally distributed roughly 620,000 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $44 billion at current prices, before the mistake was identified.

Bithumb promptly apologized for the oversight and acted swiftly to mitigate the damage. The exchange reported that it successfully recovered 99.7% of the excess Bitcoin within 35 minutes of the erroneous payout, having restricted trading and withdrawals for 695 affected customers. Bithumb emphasized that the incident was not due to external hacking or security breaches, stating, "There are no problems with system security or customer asset management." However, a small portion, specifically 125 Bitcoin worth around $9 million, has yet to be recovered from a few recipients who reportedly sold or traded the coins before restrictions were imposed. Bithumb committed to covering these remaining losses using its own corporate funds.

The incident had an immediate and visible impact on Bitcoin trading on the Bithumb platform. Charts showed Bitcoin briefly plummeting 17% to 81.1 million won (roughly $55,000) during the initial selloff before staging a recovery to around 104.5 million won, illustrating the significant market disruption caused by the error.

South Korea's financial regulators, particularly the Financial Services Commission (FSC), responded rapidly. The FSC highlighted the incident as exposing vulnerabilities within the virtual asset sector and announced plans to review the internal control systems of domestic exchanges. On-site inspections would be launched if any irregularities were discovered. Local media reported that regulators had already begun an inspection at Bithumb's offices on February 7, reportedly requesting lists of employees authorized to issue crypto payments.

Unnamed sources cited by Kookmin Ilbo described the incident as revealing "structural vulnerabilities" in Bithumb's operational processes. Reports suggested that the exchange's internal system permitted employees to issue loyalty points, Korean won, Bitcoin, and Ethereum without formal settlement procedures, significantly increasing the risk of payout errors. Hwang Seung-wook, Vice President of the Exchange Business Division, acknowledged these internal shortcomings in an email to employees, stating that "a single error in setting an event reward unit can destabilize an entire crypto exchange," underscoring the need to eliminate failures in oversight.

In response to the disruption, Bithumb announced several compensation measures for customers. Users who sold Bitcoin at unusually low prices during the volatility are slated to receive the full sale amount plus an additional 10%. Additionally, Bithumb waived trading fees across all markets for a seven-day period starting February 9 and promised 20,000 Korean won (about $15) to customers actively using the platform at the time of the incident.

This error comes at a critical juncture for Bithumb, as the exchange is pursuing plans to become the first South Korean crypto exchange to go public in the United States this year. Furthermore, the incident follows a recent probe by South Korea's consumer protection watchdog into Bithumb's marketing claims. Bithumb is now in damage control mode, pledging to compensate users and review and upgrade its internal systems to prevent future errors, though specific details on these fixes are yet to be released.