Cypto firm accidentally gives away $40 billion in Bitcoin to hundreds of customers

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Bithumb, a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, accidentally sent about $42 billion worth of Bitcoin to hundreds of its customers due to a glitch in a promotional offer. The company was able to recover almost all of the mistakenly distributed funds.

Bithumb accidentally sent customers Bitcoin instead of a small cash reward. They meant to give 2,000 Korean Won (about $1.40) to each person, but mistakenly sent 2,000 Bitcoin. Before the mistake was noticed, a total of 620,000 Bitcoin went to 695 customers.

Based on today’s prices, the stolen Bitcoin is worth over $40 billion. Currently, one Bitcoin costs just under $70,000. Although we don’t know if every customer lost exactly 2,000 Bitcoin, that quantity would have a value of approximately $138 million.

How the mistake happened

The company says the error happened because of a glitch in their system while processing rewards. Instead of the small cash bonuses they meant to send, customers accidentally received thousands of Bitcoin.

Okay, so Bithumb caught a problem and reacted super fast – they stopped all withdrawals within like, an hour. Thankfully, they managed to get almost all the crypto back – 99.7% to be exact! There’s still a tiny bit missing, but it’s a really small amount, so that’s a huge relief as a player.

The company told the BBC that the issue wasn’t caused by hacking or any security problems, and customer information and funds are safe.

Bithumb announced that customers affected by the incident would each receive 20,000 won (about $13.66) and won’t be charged trading fees.

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2026-02-09 14:52