- Bithumb mistakenly airdropped ~620,000 BTC to 695 users, briefly crashing its BTC price to $55,000.
- Exchange recovered 99.7% of BTC and will reimburse losses at 110%, plus fee waivers and bonuses.
- Regulators launched probes as Bithumb adds stricter controls and a ₩100B customer protection fund.
South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb confirmed it will compensate customers after accidentally distributing 620,000 Bitcoin. The error, occurring on February 6 during a promotional airdrop, affected 695 users and temporarily triggered a major Bitcoin price drop. According to Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won, users who sold coins at a loss will receive full reimbursement plus an additional 10%.
Details of the Airdrop Glitch and Market Impact
The mistake happened when an employee intended to distribute 2,000 KRW in rewards but mistakenly credited Bitcoin instead. Each recipient received roughly 2,000 BTC, causing some to sell immediately.
As a result, Bithumb’s BTC price dropped to $55,000, impacting the broader market, though Bitcoin remained above $66,000 elsewhere. The company blocked accounts and halted withdrawals within 20 minutes, recovering 618,212 BTC or 99.7% of the total.
Compensation and Customer Protection Measures
Bithumb estimates total losses from panic selling at about 1 billion KRW ($680,000). The company will reimburse all affected users with 110% of losses, provide 20,000 KRW ($15) to users active during the incident, and waive trading fees for seven days. Additionally, Bithumb announced a permanent Customer Protection Fund of 100 billion KRW ($68 million) for future incidents.
Regulatory Response and System Upgrades
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service are reviewing the incident. FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young led an emergency inspection on February 7, with officials from the Financial Intelligence Unit present.
Bithumb confirmed it will implement system improvements, including multi-step payment approvals, enhanced asset verification, and AI-powered monitoring for abnormal transactions, while coordinating closely with regulators to prevent similar errors.
