An error at a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange accidentally transferred almost $40 billion worth of bitcoin to consumers during a promotional event. This occurred on Friday (February 6) when the crypto firm, Bithumb, tried to deliver users small incentive payments.
Instead of giving winners about 2,000 Korean won (Rs 123), the system ended up distributing at least 2,000 bitcoins to each of 695 accounts. This amounted to around 620,000 bitcoins. At today's value, it's worth over Rs 3.62 lakh crore ($40 billion), Reuters reported.
Noticing the mistake, Bithumb ceased trading and withdrawals on the impacted accounts within 35 minutes and retrieved the coins. The crypto exchange reported recovering around 99.7 per cent of the unintentionally transferred bitcoin by Saturday.
In a statement, Bithumb apologised to customers and explained that it was a result of an error in the distribution process.
"We would like to make it clear that this event is unrelated to external hacking or security breaches, and there are no concerns with system security or customer asset management," Bithumb stated.
The mistake momentarily impacted the price of bitcoin on Bithumb's own trading platform. According to figures from the exchange, the price of bitcoin abruptly dropped by 17 per cent to 81.1 million won on Friday night on Bithumb. It eventually bounced back, and its most recent price was 104.5 million won, as reported by The Independent.
The South Korean banking regulator announced it will look into the matter during an emergency meeting on Saturday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) would start formal investigations if there were any signs of illegal activity.
Bithumb agreed to work with the authorities. "We will take this accident as a lesson and prioritise 'customer trust and peace of mind' instead of external growth," Lee Jae-won, the CEO of the business, told BBC News.
For now, Bithumb asserted it will use its own funds to cover any losses caused by the error.
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