Bithumb Exchange’s $139M Bitcoin Blunder: Technical Glitch Distributes Massive BTC Windfalls in Promo Error
South Korea's Bithumb exchange triggered market chaos after a technical glitch converted 2,000 won ($1.36) promotional rewards into 2,000 BTC ($139.4 million) windfalls for unsuspecting users. The erroneous distributions occurred during a "Random Box" giveaway event designed to distribute small cash prizes.
Recipients immediately liquidated their surprise bitcoin bonanzas, causing Bithumb's BTC/KRW pair to plummet 15% before exchange administrators froze affected accounts. Blockchain analysts observed unusual sell pressure concentrated in the minutes following the mishap.
Exchange representatives confirmed no customer funds were compromised and emphasized the incident resulted from internal accounting errors rather than security breaches. The platform's risk management systems automatically halted chain liquidations within minutes of detecting abnormal transactions.
