South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb says it has recovered almost all of the Bitcoin that was mistakenly handed out during a promotional error earlier this month.
In a notice on its website, the exchange explained that the problem happened on February 6 during a reward event. Users were supposed to receive small rewards in Korean won, but because of an internal system mistake, Bitcoin was credited instead. Some users quickly sold the Bitcoin before the issue was caught.
Bithumb said it has now recovered about 99.7% of the wrongly distributed Bitcoin. The small amount that couldn’t be recovered was covered using the exchange’s own funds, after some of the Bitcoin had already been sold.
By late February 7, Bithumb said all affected accounts had been fully corrected and customer assets were safe. The exchange also stressed that this was an operational error, not a hack or security breach.
Once the mistake was discovered, Bithumb moved fast to block affected accounts and start recovery procedures. The incident briefly caused Bitcoin prices on Bithumb’s BTC/KRW market to drop sharply, creating a gap compared to prices on other global exchanges. However, the impact stayed limited to Bithumb and did not spread to the wider market.
To deal with the fallout, Bithumb said it will compensate users who sold Bitcoin at unusually low prices during the incident and offer other support measures, including fee relief. The exchange has also set up a special internal task force to strengthen controls and prevent similar errors in the future.
Bithumb said the successful recovery shows its response systems worked as intended and reaffirmed its commitment to protecting customer funds.
