South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb says it resolved a promotional reward error that briefly credited some user accounts with excess Bitcoin. In a Sunday statement, the company said it recovered 99.7% of the overpaid BTC the same day the issue occurred. The remaining 0.3%—amounting to 1,788 BTC that had already been sold—was covered from company funds so customer balances remained fully matched.
Bithumb said most of the excess BTC was reclaimed directly from affected accounts, while the portion that had been liquidated on the market required reimbursement from corporate reserves. The exchange asserted that its holdings of all virtual assets, including Bitcoin, are ‘‘100% equivalent to or exceeding user deposits.’’
To compensate users, Bithumb announced several measures: users who were connected to the platform at the time of the incident will receive 20,000 Korean won (about $15) each; traders who sold Bitcoin at unfavorable prices during the disruption will be reimbursed the full sale value plus an additional 10%; and trading fees across all markets will be waived for seven days beginning Monday.
The incident began on Friday when a system error during a promotional event credited some accounts with unusually large amounts of BTC, prompting recipients to sell and producing brief, sharp price swings on the exchange. Bithumb moved quickly to restrict affected accounts and said it stabilized trading within minutes, preventing broader liquidations. The company emphasized the event was not a hack, no customer assets were lost, and deposits and withdrawals continued as normal. While Bithumb did not disclose the total amount involved, some users reported roughly 2,000 BTC had been credited.
This event highlights ongoing operational risks at centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. In June, Coinbase reported that account restrictions were a significant problem and said it reduced unnecessary freezes by 82% after upgrading its machine-learning systems and internal infrastructure. During the Oct. 10 market sell-off, Binance users also reported technical problems that interfered with closing positions; the platform later issued about $728 million in compensation to affected users.
Bithumb’s quick recovery and the decision to use corporate funds to cover sold BTC helped avoid customer losses in this case, while the compensation package and fee waiver aim to address customer disruption. As always, readers are encouraged to verify details independently; this report was prepared in line with editorial transparency and accuracy practices.