Bithumb blunder sends 2,000 bitcoins instead of small reward

A representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency in this illustration taken Sept. 10, 2025. Reuters-Yonhap

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said a system error during a payout event Friday led to an abnormal distribution of Bitcoin to some users, briefly disrupting prices on its platform.

According to media reports, the event was originally intended to provide users with either reward points or a small Bitcoin reward worth about 2,000 won ($1.37). However, a system configuration error caused the reward unit to be entered as a Bitcoin quantity rather than points, resulting in some users being credited with 2,000 bitcoins instead.

Media reports said Bithumb attempted to recover the mistakenly credited assets after recognizing the issue, but some users immediately sold the Bitcoin at market prices, realizing gains of hundreds of millions of won. As a result, Bitcoin prices on Bithumb briefly plunged to around 81 million won ($55,000) — more than 10 percent lower than prices on other exchanges.

In a notice released shortly after midnight Saturday, Bithumb said that during the payout process “an abnormal quantity of Bitcoin was credited to certain customers,” and that some of the mistakenly credited assets were sold, triggering a brief price fluctuation on the exchange.

Bithumb said it detected the issue immediately through its internal monitoring systems and restricted trading on the affected accounts. “As a result, market prices recovered to normal levels within five minutes,” the exchange said, adding that its domino liquidation prevention system functioned as designed and prevented any cascading liquidations tied to the abnormal prices.

The company emphasized that the incident was not caused by hacking or a security breach and said customer assets remain safe. While it said it has not identified any customer losses so far, Bithumb said it will disclose follow-up measures transparently as its review continues.