South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has apologised after it mistakenly transferred over $40 billion worth of bitcoins to customers as part of a promotion event, AFP reported on 7 February.
The accidental deposit of 6,20,000 Bitcoins, worth over $40 billion, into the wallets of 695 affected users, briefly prompted a selloff on the platform, as per the report.
Almost all of the tokens (around 99.7%) have been recovered and the platform said it would use its own assets to cover the losses, it added. The company added that it blocked trading and withdrawals for the impacted accounts within 35 minutes after the error occurred on 6 February.
How did Bithumb make error in sending Bitcoin to customers?
AFP cited local reports, which said that Bithumb originally meant to send some 2,000 won ( ₹123.76) to each customer as part of a promotional event, but mistakenly sent 2,000 bitcoins per user instead.
In its statement on 7 February, the exchange said: “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event.”
Further, the platform assured that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident.
“We would like to make it clear that this incident is unrelated to external hacking or security breaches, and there are no problems with system security or customer asset management,” Bithumb added in its statement, as per a Reuters report.
Were Bitcoin prices affected due to error?
The company did admit that the mistaken Bitcoin deposit in wallets prompted a selloff from some users on the platform and briefly caused “sharp volatility” in prices. However, Bithumb said it brought the situation under control within five minutes.
AFP said the platform’s charts showed that Bitcoin prices briefly slumped 17% to 81.1 million won on the platform late on Friday (6 February).
Bithumb is the second largest crypto exchange in South Korea, behind market leader Upbit, the Reuters report added.
Bitcoin price today at $68,527.34: Check crypto markets
At time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $68,527.34 on 7 February, a brief respite from the freefall near $60,000 levels the previous day. The token is up 5.96% in the past 24 hours, with market capitalisation of $1.36 trillion (5.77% from the previous day), and trading volume of $87.93 billion (down 37.95%).
The crypto market cap is at $2.35 trillion, with trading volume of $202.85 billion. The fear and greed index remains the ‘Extreme Fear’ category.
Bitcoin’s dominance was at 58.3% (down 0.01%), while second largest crypto Ethereum held 10.5% of the market share (down 1.7%), and other tokens comprise 31.2% (up 1.72%) of the pie of 7 February.
Ethereum also slightly recovered, trading at $2,003.90 (up 5.81%), with market cap of $241.85 billion (up 7.31%) and trading volume at $51.97 billion (down 25.41%).
Nischal Shetty, Founder of WazirX noted that crypto markets have seen short-term volatility over the last 24 hours, driven largely by technical factors and cautious sentiment rather than any fundamental shift in the ecosystem.
Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst at Delta Exchange too noted that Bitcoin’s rebound from the $60,000 lows and Ethereum’s recovery beyond $2,000 mark a potential turning point following the steepest two-week decline since mid-2022. She added that altcoins are also bouncing back, with broad-based green across large caps like Solana, XRP, and Cardano, suggesting renewed risk appetite.
Shetty further added macro conditions remain stable, with major central banks holding rates steady, providing a predictable liquidity backdrop. “Importantly, continued investments by financial institutions into crypto infrastructure reinforce the long-term conviction that this space is becoming an integral part of the global financial system, beyond short-term price movements,” he added.
“Technically, Bitcoin must close above the $72,000–$75,000 resistance to confirm trend continuation, while Ethereum’s breakout above $2,300 would strengthen the bullish case. Overall, the market appears to be shifting from panic to cautious optimism, signaling that the worst of the drawdown may be behind us, though volatility will likely remain elevated in the near term,” Sehgal felt.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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