07.02.2026 21:01
The world of cryptocurrency witnessed one of the most expensive lessons in history on how a software bug can turn into global chaos. The South Korean giant exchange Bithumb, while trying to distribute symbolic currency to its users, accidentally sent billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to hundreds of accounts due to a systemic confusion. Users who were expecting 2,000 Won for 1.5 dollars suddenly saw massive balances of 2,000 Bitcoin appear on their screens. The error cost the company 44 billion dollars.
South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has made headlines with a rare technical scandal in the digital finance world. A system error during a promotional campaign made hundreds of users "billionaires" on paper, causing a brief panic in the markets.
THE SYSTEM MIXED UP UNITS
The incident began when Bithumb intended to pay its users a loyalty reward of approximately $1.5 (2,000 South Korean Won). However, the system mistakenly processed this amount in "Bitcoin" units instead of the local currency. As a result of the error, approximately 2,000 Bitcoin (BTC) were transferred to the wallets of hundreds of users within seconds. It was reported that the total market value of the incorrect transfer reached $44 billion.
695 ACCOUNTS FROZEN, ASSETS RECALLED
Upon realizing the scandal, the exchange management went into emergency mode. The trading and withdrawal privileges of 695 affected users were immediately suspended. In a recent statement from the company, it was announced that as a result of intensive technical work, 99.7% of the transferred assets were successfully recalled and that the majority of users had their account freezes lifted.
MARKET VOLATILITY
During the error, some users' attempts to quickly cash out the Bitcoin credited to their accounts led to sudden fluctuations in the Bitcoin price parity. Bithumb officials apologized to investors, emphasizing that the situation was not a cyber attack but rather a result of an internal software parameter error.
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