- Bithumb says a payout event error credited some users with 2,000 bitcoins instead of rewards worth about 2,000 won, leading to quick sales and a brief 10% price drop on the exchange
- The exchange reports it froze affected accounts within minutes, prices returned to normal, no hacking was involved, and customer assets remain safe
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reported that a system malfunction during a promotional payout on Friday caused an unintended allocation of Bitcoin to some customers, briefly sending prices on its platform sharply lower. The company said the incident stemmed from a configuration error tied to an event reward and stressed that it was not related to hacking or any security breach.
Event payout error triggers abnormal Bitcoin distribution
The issue arose during a Bithumb marketing event that was supposed to grant users either loyalty points or a small amount of Bitcoin valued at about 2,000 won. According to media accounts, the system was configured incorrectly, recording the reward as a Bitcoin quantity instead of as points. This misentry meant that certain customers received 2,000 bitcoins in their accounts instead of a Bitcoin amount worth roughly 2,000 won.
Once the abnormally large credits appeared, some users moved quickly to trade the mistakenly allocated coins. Media reports said that Bithumb, upon spotting the problem, tried to claw back the erroneous distributions. However, before this process was completed, a portion of the recipients sold the Bitcoin at prevailing market prices. Those users reportedly booked profits amounting to hundreds of millions of won, capitalising on the sudden windfall before any correction could be fully applied.
The unexpected selling pressure from these transactions had a direct impact on the exchange’s order book. Bitcoin prices on Bithumb temporarily dropped to around 81 million won, or about $55,000, which was more than 10 percent lower than the going rate on competing platforms at that moment. This divergence underscored how a technical error, confined to a single exchange, can still briefly distort local pricing even when global markets remain stable.
Bithumb response and rapid price recovery
In a public notice issued shortly after midnight on Saturday, Bithumb acknowledged that an “abnormal quantity of Bitcoin” had been credited to certain customers during the event payout. The exchange confirmed that some of these incorrectly allocated coins were sold on the market, causing a short-lived disruption in the Bitcoin price on its venue.
Bithumb said that its internal monitoring tools picked up the irregular activity as it was happening. Once flagged, the exchange restricted trading for the accounts that had received the mistaken distributions, aiming to limit further impact from the error. The company stated that these actions helped restore Bitcoin prices on the platform to normal levels within about five minutes.
The firm also highlighted the performance of its internal risk controls during the episode. Bithumb said its “domino liquidation prevention system” worked as intended, preventing a chain reaction of forced liquidations that could have been triggered by the sudden, steep price move. By containing the spillover from the brief plunge, the system helped keep the event from escalating into a broader disruption for leveraged traders on the exchange.
Throughout its communications, Bithumb stressed that the situation was caused solely by a configuration mistake linked to the event payout process and not by any outside intrusion. The company emphasised that there had been no hacking and no compromise of its security infrastructure.
Bithumb review and customer asset assurances
Following the incident, Bithumb sought to reassure its users about the safety of their funds. The exchange said customer assets remained secure and that, based on its checks so far, it had not identified any client losses connected to the pricing disruption. The company framed the problem as a technical and operational error limited to the distribution of event rewards, rather than an issue affecting core custody or trading systems.
Bithumb also indicated that it is conducting an internal review of the episode and its handling of the abnormal Bitcoin allocation. While it did not outline specific remedial steps in its initial statement, the exchange pledged to share any follow-up measures in a transparent manner as the review continues. This includes explaining how the configuration error occurred, how the monitoring and control systems responded, and what changes might be implemented to prevent similar incidents.
Media reports, meanwhile, focused on the gains captured by some users who sold the mistakenly credited Bitcoin before all safeguards were applied. Those reports highlighted the scale of the misallocation by noting that individual profits reached into the hundreds of millions of won. Bithumb has not publicly detailed how much of the erroneously distributed Bitcoin it has successfully recovered or what actions, if any, it may take regarding the accounts involved.
The event underscores the operational risks associated with promotional campaigns that involve digital asset payouts. Even when reward amounts are intended to be small, a configuration error can lead to large unintended exposures. For Bithumb, the rapid detection of the problem and the functioning of its liquidation-prevention tools helped contain the fallout, but the incident still led to a brief yet notable divergence between its Bitcoin price and those on other exchanges.
Conclusion
Bithumb’s event payout mistake resulted in some users receiving far more Bitcoin than intended, prompting immediate selling that pushed the platform’s Bitcoin price down to about 81 million won, more than 10 percent below other markets. The exchange said it spotted the problem quickly, restricted trading on affected accounts, and saw prices return to normal within minutes, with its risk controls preventing wider liquidation cascades. Bithumb maintains that no hacking was involved, customer funds remain safe, and no client losses have been identified so far, while promising to disclose the results of its internal review and any subsequent actions.
Disclaimer
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