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Bithumb’s $44 Billion Bitcoin Payout Error Contained After 99.7% Recovery, Compensation Pledged

Regulators opened inspections following a ledger error that briefly drove prices 17% lower on the platform.

Overview

  • An employee entered BTC instead of Korean won during a “Random Box” reward, crediting roughly 620,000 BTC across 695 accounts.
  • Internal controls flagged the anomaly within about 20 minutes, with trading and withdrawals on affected accounts fully blocked by 7:40 p.m. local time.
  • Bithumb says 618,212 BTC was recovered and 93% of the roughly 1,788 BTC sold was reclaimed, leaving about 125 BTC outstanding to be covered by corporate funds.
  • The exchange will reimburse users who sold at unfavorable prices at 110% of their loss, grant 20,000 KRW to active users during the incident, and waive fees for a week.
  • The company says no hack occurred and customer assets remain secure, while authorities from the FSC, FSS, and FIU conduct on-site reviews of controls and custody practices.