A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, has apologised after accidentally sending bitcoin worth about Ksh5.1 trillion ($40 billion) to hundreds of its users.
The incident happened on Friday during a promotional campaign. Bithumb said it was supposed to send a small reward of about 2,000 Korean won (around Ksh180) to each user. Instead, due to a system error, the platform mistakenly transferred about 2,000 bitcoins to each affected account.
In total, 620,000 bitcoins were wrongly sent to 695 users, causing panic and confusion on the platform. Some recipients quickly sold the bitcoin, leading to a brief sell-off and sharp price drops.
Bithumb said it detected the mistake within minutes and suspended trading and withdrawals within 35 minutes to stop further losses. The exchange reported that bitcoin prices on its platform briefly dropped by 17 percent before stabilising.
In a statement released on Saturday, the company apologised to its customers and assured the public that the incident was not caused by hacking or a security breach.
The exchange said it has already recovered 99.7 percent of the mistakenly transferred bitcoin and promised to use its own funds to fully cover any remaining losses.
The incident comes at a time when bitcoin prices have been under pressure globally, following recent market declines that erased gains made after the US presidential election in late 2024.
Authorities and industry analysts say the mistake highlights the risks involved in automated systems used by cryptocurrency exchanges and the need for stronger safeguards.
