Bithumb, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, accidentally distributed approximately 620,000 bitcoins—worth about $44 billion—to users during a promotional event on Friday, February 6, 2026.
The error occurred when a promotional reward intended to give users small cash incentives of 2,000 Korean won ($1.37–$1.40) instead mistakenly issued at least 2,000 bitcoins per winner. Bithumb quickly identified the issue and restricted trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected accounts within 35 minutes.
The exchange confirmed the incident was due to an internal error, not a security breach or hacking, and stated there were no issues with system security or customer asset management. By Saturday, February 7, 2026, Bithumb had recovered 99.7% of the mistakenly distributed bitcoins.
The incident triggered a brief 17% drop in Bitcoin prices on the Bithumb exchange, which later recovered. South Korea’s financial regulators expressed concern, highlighting the vulnerabilities in virtual asset systems, and announced plans to review internal controls and operations of Bithumb and other crypto exchanges.
