Bithumb Recovers Nearly All Bitcoin From $40 Billion Error
The post Bithumb Recovers Nearly All Bitcoin From $40 Billion Error appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
South Korea’s major cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has confirmed it has successfully recovered 99.7% of the 620,000 BTC that were mistakenly credited to customer accounts during a promotional payout error. This incident briefly shook market confidence and triggered a sharp but short-lived price dislocation on the platform. The error, now widely described as one of the most expensive operational mistakes in crypto history, saw users accidentally credited with Bitcoin instead of Korean won after an employee reportedly typed “BTC” instead of “KRW” while processing a promo reward. As a result, hundreds of users received 2,000 BTC each, worth roughly $166 million per account, instead of the intended $1.50 reward. WORST CRYPTO MISTAKE EVER: #BITHUMB Exchange Accidentally Airdrops $40B in Bitcoin Instead of $1.50 Korea’s @BithumbOfficial Accidentally Sent 620,000 $BTC to Users During a Promo Gone WrongEmployee typed “BTC” instead of “KRW” – users got 2,000 BTC (~$166M each) instead of… https://t.co/fA6MY47LT3 pic.twitter.com/mFIR2f9kn3 — Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) February 7, 2026 Despite the staggering scale of the error, valued at over $40 billion at the time, Bithumb says the situation has been largely contained, with no evidence of hacking, on-chain transfers, or external breaches. How A Simple Input Error Triggered A Market Shock According to disclosures, the incident originated from an internal operational mistake during a promotional distribution. A staff member processing the reward input selected Bitcoin as the payout unit rather than Korean won, instantly crediting massive BTC balances to hundreds of customer accounts within Bithumb’s internal ledger. Because the balances appeared legitimate within the exchange system, affected users were able to trade immediately. Some users, realizing the anomaly, sold their balances at once, overwhelming the order books and causing a flash crash on Bithumb alone. Bitcoin Price Shock As Bithumb Error Triggers Sudden Market Crash Bitcoin briefly plunged to $55,000 on…
Filed under: News - @ February 8, 2026 6:13 pm