South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has confirmed it fully restored Bitcoin backing after a rare internal error briefly credited users with an enormous amount of BTC. The incident involved a mistaken payout that showed customers a combined 620,000 Bitcoin, triggering short-lived market disruption before the exchange stepped in to contain the issue.
How the Bitcoin Miscredit Happened
The problem started during a promotional reward campaign. Bithumb planned to issue small cash bonuses in Korean won. However, a data input mistake caused the system to distribute rewards in Bitcoin units instead. As a result, affected accounts suddenly displayed unusually large BTC balances.
Bithumb detected the error quickly. Within about 35 minutes, the exchange restricted trading and withdrawals for impacted users. This fast response helped limit the amount of Bitcoin that could be sold or moved before controls took effect.
According to the exchange, most users did not realize the balances were incorrect. Still, some accounts managed to sell portions of the credited Bitcoin during the brief window.
Recovery Efforts and Use of Company Reserves
After identifying the scale of the issue, Bithumb launched an internal recovery process. The exchange successfully reversed or reclaimed 618,212 BTC, which represented roughly 99.7 percent of the miscredited amount.
The remaining gap came from Bitcoin that had already been sold on the platform. To close that shortfall, Bithumb used its own reserves to cover 1,788 BTC. Therefore, the company says customer Bitcoin balances are once again backed one-to-one.
Key actions taken by Bithumb included:
- Immediate trading and withdrawal limits on affected accounts
- Internal reversals of erroneous Bitcoin credits
- Deployment of company-held BTC to restore full backing
This incident is expected to increase regulatory attention on centralized crypto exchanges in South Korea. Furthermore, it highlights how operational mistakes can quickly impact market confidence, even when reserves remain strong.
Bithumb stated it plans to tighten internal controls and increase third-party audits. The exchange hopes these steps will reassure users that proof-of-reserves claims also come with reliable operational safeguards.
