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South Korea launched a full investigation into Bithumb after a $43 billion bitcoin transfer error
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620,000 BTC was mistakenly distributed to users during a promotion
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Authorities say the incident exposed major internal control failures
Regulators Escalate Investigation
Financial Supervisory Service has launched a full-scale investigation into Bithumb following a massive operational error that saw roughly $43 billion worth of bitcoin mistakenly sent to users.
What began as a routine inspection was escalated after regulators determined the incident posed serious risks to market integrity and consumer protection.
How the Error Happened
On Feb. 6, Bithumb accidentally distributed 620,000 BTC during a promotional campaign after a staff member entered BTC instead of Korean won as the reward unit. While the exchange recovered nearly all funds, about 125 BTC remains unrecovered.
The incident caused the BTC-KRW trading pair to drop roughly 15% on Bithumb, prompting the exchange to compensate affected users at 110% of losses and announce a 100 billion won user protection fund.
Political and Regulatory Fallout
Lawmakers across parties said the error exposed critical weaknesses in exchange ledger systems, noting that Bithumb held only around 46,000 BTC at the time of the incident. Authorities are now considering stricter ownership caps and imposing legal obligations on crypto exchanges closer to those faced by traditional financial institutions.
