ISLAMABAD – Unbelievable development reported from crypto world as 695 ordinary users became instant millionaires. Some stared in silence. Some refreshed again and again, convinced it was a glitch. Others rushed to trade, until everything suddenly froze.
It all stemmed to a blunder that sent shockwaves through the global crypto world, a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange accidentally transferred more than $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to its users, briefly turning hundreds of ordinary account holders into instant millionaires, and in some cases, billionaires.
The exchange, Bithumb, originally planned to distribute a modest promotional reward of just 2,000 won (around $1.37) to its users. But on Friday, a catastrophic operational error led to the transfer of 2,000 Bitcoins per user instead of 2,000 won, unleashing one of the most astonishing payout mistakes in financial history.
As a result, 695 users suddenly saw massive Bitcoin balances appear in their accounts. For a short but surreal period, some users found themselves holding crypto fortunes worth millions before the company realized what had happened.
Bithumb said it detected the error quickly and moved into crisis mode. Within 35 minutes of the mistaken transfers, the exchange froze trading and withdrawals on all affected accounts to prevent further losses.
According to the company, a total of 620,000 Bitcoins were mistakenly transferred, but it has managed to recover an astonishing 99.7% of them.
Bithumb said the incident was not the result of hacking or a security breach “We want to make it clear that this incident has no connection to external hacking or any security issues. There was no problem with system security or the management of customer assets,” the company said.
The scale of the mistake immediately drew the attention of South Korea’s financial authorities. On Saturday, the country’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) convened an emergency meeting to review the incident.
The regulator announced that if any signs of illegal activity are discovered such as users attempting to exploit or conceal the funds — a formal investigation will be launched.
Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won publicly apologized, calling the incident a wake-up call for the company “We will take this accident as a lesson and prioritize customer trust and peace of mind over external growth,” he said.
Bithumb announced it will compensate all users who were on the platform at the time with 20,000 won (about $13.66). The exchange also plans to waive trading fees and introduce additional customer support measures. After incident, Bithumb said it will upgrade its verification systems and deploy artificial intelligence to detect abnormal transactions and prevent similar errors in the future.
The scandal reignited debate over the need for stricter regulatory oversight of crypto exchanges, particularly as digital assets become more deeply integrated into mainstream financial systems.
The episode echoes another staggering financial error earlier this year. In April 2024, US banking giant Citigroup mistakenly credited a customer with $810 trillion instead of $280.
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