South Korean cryptocurrency exchange mistakenly sent $44 billion worth of bitcoin to users.

(CLO) South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb inadvertently distributed over $40 billion worth of bitcoin to customers during a promotional program.

According to Bithumb, the incident occurred on February 6th, when the exchange mistakenly distributed a total of approximately 620,000 bitcoins, worth roughly $44 billion at market prices at the time.

The exchange stated that it had recovered 99.7% of the mis-distributed bitcoins and imposed trading and withdrawal restrictions on 695 affected customers within 35 minutes of the incident occurring.

Illustration photo: Unsplash

Media reports indicate that Bithumb initially planned to award small cash prizes, starting from 2,000 South Korean won (approximately $1.37) per user as part of a promotional event. Due to an operational error, winners instead received at least 2,000 bitcoins (approximately $138 million) each.

In a statement, Bithumb asserted that the incident did not stem from a cyberattack or external security breach. The exchange stressed that there were no issues related to system security or customer asset management.

Following the erroneous distribution, the price of Bitcoin on the Bithumb exchange unexpectedly plummeted by 17%, falling to 81.1 million won (approximately $55,400) in a short period due to localized selling pressure.

However, bargain-hunting buying quickly pushed the price back up to 104.5 million won (approximately $71,400). Although this figure is higher than the world price (currently around $69,000) due to domestic exchange rate differences, this price marks the return to stability for the Bithumb exchange after the technical shock.

Bithumb is currently the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, behind Upbit.

Source: https://congluan.vn/san-tien-so-han-quoc-gui-nham-44-ty-usd-bitcoin-cho-nguoi-dung-10329830.html