South Korean Exchange Accidentally Gives Customers £32 Billion in Bitcoin Instead of £1 Rewards

2026-02-07 region

Seoul, 7 February 2026
Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, mistakenly distributed 2,000 bitcoins per customer instead of 2,000 won (£1.37) rewards to 695 participants during a promotional event on Friday evening. The error resulted in approximately 620,000 bitcoins worth £32 billion being incorrectly credited to customer accounts, briefly creating hundreds of new billionaires on paper before the exchange recovered 99.7% of the funds within 35 minutes.

The Scale of the Error

The magnitude of Bithumb’s error becomes clear when examining the financial implications. Each affected customer received 2,000 bitcoins instead of the intended 2,000 Korean won reward [1]. With bitcoin trading at approximately £49,000 per coin at the time of the incident, this meant each customer temporarily possessed assets worth roughly £98 million [4]. The total erroneous distribution reached 620,000 bitcoins, valued at approximately £30.4 billion [2][5]. This represented one of the largest accidental cryptocurrency distributions in the industry’s history, dwarfing the exchange’s intended promotional budget of just £950 for the entire event [5].

Swift Response and Market Impact

Bithumb’s internal monitoring systems detected the anomaly within 20 minutes of the initial distribution at 19:00 on 6 February [2]. By 19:35, the exchange had implemented trading and withdrawal restrictions for all 695 affected accounts, completing the lockdown process five minutes later [2]. The rapid influx of bitcoin onto the market caused immediate price volatility on Bithumb’s platform, with bitcoin prices plummeting to 81.11 million Korean won (approximately £55,000) before recovering to normal levels within five minutes [4][7]. The exchange’s automated liquidation prevention systems functioned as designed, preventing cascading forced liquidations that could have amplified the market disruption [4].

Recovery Operations and Regulatory Response

Bithumb successfully recovered 99.712 percent of the erroneously distributed bitcoins, totalling 618,212 bitcoins by 04:30 on 7 February [2]. Of the remaining 1,788 bitcoins that had been sold before the lockdown, the exchange managed to recover 93% of the equivalent value in Korean won and other cryptocurrencies [2]. Financial authorities responded swiftly to the incident, with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) convening an emergency meeting on Saturday morning [1]. Deputy Financial Services Commission Chairman Kwon Dae-young led an urgent inspection meeting that afternoon, emphasising that the incident exposed the vulnerabilities and risks inherent in virtual assets [8].

Industry Implications and Future Safeguards

The incident prompted immediate regulatory scrutiny and calls for enhanced oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges. South Korean financial authorities established an emergency response team comprising the Financial Services Commission, Financial Intelligence Unit, FSS, and the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance to conduct comprehensive inspections of Bithumb’s asset holdings and operational systems [8]. The authorities announced plans to implement mandatory periodic audits by external institutions and introduce ‘no-fault liability’ provisions for cryptocurrency businesses when user losses occur due to system errors [8]. Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won acknowledged the severity of the incident, promising to prioritise ‘customer trust and peace of mind’ over external growth and pledging to redesign asset distribution processes whilst implementing AI-powered systems to detect abnormal transactions [1][2]. The exchange committed to compensating all users who were active on the platform during the incident with 20,000 Korean won (£13.66) and waived trading fees as remedial measures [1].

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