South Korea’s prominent cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb mistakenly transferred a large amount of Bitcoin to users’ accounts due to an operational error, causing significant market volatility and a sharp decline in prices. The incident occurred during a promotional event where the company planned to distribute cash rewards ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 Korean won via a “random box” system. However, staff erroneously recorded the rewards in Bitcoin instead of cash, resulting in some users receiving nearly 2,000 Bitcoins each, valued at approximately 196 billion won per user at the time. Following the erroneous distribution, several users sold the Bitcoins, causing the Bitcoin price on the Bithumb platform to drop by more than 10%, substantially lower than general market rates.
Bithumb issued an apology, stating their internal control system quickly detected the mistake and halted transactions on the affected accounts. The company emphasized that the incident was not due to any external hacking or security breach and that users’ assets remained secure. This event coincided with a period of significant Bitcoin price decline in the global market, where prices had recently fallen to $60,000, marking one of the largest drops in history and nearly 50% below its peak. The resulting liquidations added further instability to the market.
The incident highlights the sensitivity of the cryptocurrency market and the potential impact of technical errors. Although Bithumb promptly managed the situation, such mistakes can undermine investor confidence and contribute to increased market uncertainty.
Source: bitcoinmagazine
