A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb apologized Saturday after accidentally transferring over $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, briefly triggering a selloff on the platform.
The exchange said it mistakenly sent 620,000 bitcoins, intended as a small promotional gift, to 695 users. Trading and withdrawals were blocked within 35 minutes of the error, which occurred Friday, reports AFP.
Local reports said Bithumb intended to send about 2,000 won ($1.37) per user but instead transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins each.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this promotional event,” Bithumb said in a statement Saturday.
The exchange said it had recovered 99.7% of the mistakenly sent bitcoins and will cover any remaining losses using its own assets. The error briefly caused “sharp volatility” in bitcoin prices on the platform, with some recipients selling the tokens. Prices fell as much as 17% to 81.1 million won before stabilizing within five minutes.
Bithumb stressed the incident was “unrelated to external hacking or security breaches.”
The error comes as bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, sank this week, erasing gains it had made following US President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
