A major technical error at Bithumb, one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, led users to receive billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin instead of a modest promotional prize. The mistake triggered immediate chaos on the platform and caused Bitcoin’s price to temporarily crash on the exchange.
The incident occurred during a promotional campaign called “Random Box.” Participants were expected to receive 2,000 Korean won, equivalent to approximately $1.37. Instead, the system credited accounts with 2,000 BTC. At current market rates of around $70,000 per Bitcoin, each erroneous transfer was worth roughly $140 million.
Approximately 700 users participated in the Random Box promotion. Based on the campaign’s structure, roughly 672 users likely received the inflated Bitcoin amounts. The total value of accidentally distributed Bitcoin reached an estimated $95.4 billion. However, these funds existed only within Bithumb’s internal accounting system. No actual blockchain transactions took place.
Flash Crash and Rapid Response
Bithumb detected the error within five minutes of its occurrence. The company moved quickly to reverse the mistaken credits. Despite the brief timeframe, significant damage occurred as users rushed to capitalize on the windfall.
South Korean financial authorities estimate that users sold over $2 billion worth of the phantom Bitcoin during the five-minute window. The massive sell-off created artificial downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price within the Bithumb platform. The cryptocurrency plummeted to $55,000 on the exchange while maintaining prices near $60,000 on other platforms.
The price disparity highlighted the localized nature of the incident. Bitcoin markets on competing exchanges remained largely unaffected. Bithumb’s internal systems bore the full brunt of the selling pressure. The price recovered after the company corrected the accounting error and halted unauthorized transactions.
Security Assurances and Damage Control
Bithumb issued a public statement addressing the incident. The exchange emphasized that external hackers played no role in the error. The company attributed the mistake to an internal technical malfunction during the promotional event setup.
“This incident is unrelated to any external hacking or security breach,” Bithumb stated in an official blog post. The company stressed that system security remained intact throughout the event. Customer assets stored on the platform were never at risk, according to the statement.
The exchange confirmed that no users lost pre-existing funds due to the error. Only the mistakenly credited Bitcoin was affected by the correction process. Bithumb’s reversal of the erroneous transactions restored accurate account balances across the platform.
Source: https://coinpaper.com/14365/south-korean-exchange-bithumb-error-causes-bitcoin-price-flash-crash
