South Korea’s Bithumb gives away over US$40 billion in a bit of a blunder

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by ReutersFebruary 7, 2026 at 06:03 AM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb mistakenly distributed over $40 billion worth of Bitcoin to customers as promotional rewards on Friday, causing a temporary price drop on the exchange. The error occurred during a promotional event where users were intended to receive small cash rewards. Bithumb stated the incident was not due to a security breach and that they recovered 99.7% of the 620,000 Bitcoin within 35 minutes by restricting trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected customers. Bitcoin prices on Bithumb briefly fell 17% before recovering. Bithumb apologized for the mistake and assured users that their system security and asset management were not compromised.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Northgate Mall 30% California 30% San Rafael 30% Upbit 50% South Korea ×280% Bitcoin ×590% Bithumb ×6100%

Keywords

bithumb 100% bitcoin 90% cryptocurrency exchange 90% erroneous distribution 80% promotional rewards 70% trading restrictions 60% system security 50% south korea 50% price slump 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

South Korea

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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bithumb bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange erroneous distribution promotional rewards trading restrictions system security south korea price slump

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