{"id":15718,"date":"2026-02-15T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/south-korean-crypto-company-accidentally-sends-over-s55-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-to-users\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T13:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:22:00","slug":"south-korean-crypto-company-accidentally-sends-over-s55-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-to-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/south-korean-crypto-company-accidentally-sends-over-s55-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-to-users\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean crypto company accidentally sends over S$55 billion worth of bitcoin to users"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2><span data-sheets-root=\"1\">South Korean company attempting to recover losses after giving out S$55 billion in bitcoin to customers<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A South Korean crypto firm accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoin, worth around US$44 billion (S$55.6 billion), to 249 customers.<\/p>\n<p>The company responded quickly and recovered most of the lost money, but around 86 customers had quickly sold their newly-obtained bitcoin.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_699744\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"33\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-699744\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Jiri Hera on Canva, for illustration purposes only<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>South Korean crypto firm gives 2,000 bitcoin reward instead of 2,000 won<\/h3>\n<p>South Korean company Bithumb made the crypto blunder on the evening of 6 Feb.<\/p>\n<p>According to The Korea Herald, Bithumb intended to give away small cash rewards to customers in a promotional event.<\/p>\n<p>The company wanted to give each winner 2,000 won (S$1.70) but accidentally gave at least 2,000 bitcoin per winner instead.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_699726\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"32\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-699726\" class=\"size-full wp-image-699726 lazyload\" alt width=\"954\" height=\"691\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-1.jpg 954w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-1-600x435.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-1-150x109.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px\" src=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-1.jpg\">\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p id=\"caption-attachment-699726\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Bitcoin News on X<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After sending out the 620,000 bitcoin, Bithumb allegedly halted the transactions within minutes.<\/p>\n<p>The company managed to quickly recover 618,212 bitcoin, or about 99.7%.<\/p>\n<p>In that short window, however, some customers had already sold 1,788 bitcoin, causing a drop in prices as much as 17%.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_699739\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-699739\" class=\"size-full wp-image-699739 lazyload\" alt width=\"962\" height=\"409\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-3.jpg 962w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-3-600x255.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-3-150x64.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 962px) 100vw, 962px\" src=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-3.jpg\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-699739\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Bithumb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Over S$11 million in bitcoin sold and unrecovered<\/h3>\n<p>Bithumb managed to recover 93% of the sold bitcoin, reported Korea JoongAng Daily.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>That ultimately left 126 bitcoin, worth around US$8.9 million (S$11.2 million), sold and unrecovered as of 7 Feb.<\/p>\n<p>Bithumb has begun contacting the involved customer to regain the sold bitcoin and is even considering legal action.<\/p>\n<p>However, some questioned whether legal action could be taken against these customers.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that cryptocurrencies did not qualify as property under the Criminal Act, resulting in an acquittal in an embezzlement case.<\/p>\n<p>Other law experts stated that the customers who sold the bitcoin could still be taken to court over breach of trust.<\/p>\n<h3>Bithumb promises compensation of S$17 to users<\/h3>\n<p>&ldquo;We would like to make it clear that this incident is unrelated to external hacking or security breaches, and there are no problems with system security or customer asset management,&rdquo; Bithumb stated.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_699737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"32\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-699737\" class=\"wp-image-699737 size-full lazyload\" alt=\"south korean bitcoin billion\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1265\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-2.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-2-600x593.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-2-1024x1012.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-2-150x148.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https:\/\/mustsharenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bitcoin-company-2.jpg\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-699737\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Yonhap News via The Korea Herald<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Korea Herald reported that Bithumb did not actually hold 620,000 bitcoin, with an estimated reserve of only 43,000.<\/p>\n<p>It had thus credited non-existent &ldquo;ghost&rdquo; bitcoins to its customers, raising concerns about the security of the cryptocurrency exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Bithumb pledged to fully reimburse customers who sold at depressed prices with the price difference plus an additional 10%.<\/p>\n<p>All users logged into the platform at the time of the incident will receive 20,000 won (S$17).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also read: Man refuses to return S$9K mistakenly transferred by NTU, spends it on a staycation<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"265PFTO1ud\" readability=\"0\">\n<p>Man refuses to return S$9K mistakenly transferred by NTU, spends it on a staycation<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at&nbsp;news@mustsharenews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Featured image adapted from Jiri Hera on Canva, for illustration purposes only, and Yonhap News via The Korea Herald.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><sub>South Korean crypto company accidentally sends over S$55 billion worth of bitcoin to users<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korean company attempting to recover losses after giving out S$55 billion in bitcoin to customers A South Korean crypto firm accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoin, worth around US$44 billion (S$55.6 billion), to 249 customers. The company responded quickly and recovered most of the lost money, but around 86 customers had quickly sold their newly-obtained bitcoin&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/south-korean-crypto-company-accidentally-sends-over-s55-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-to-users\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;South Korean crypto company accidentally sends over S$55 billion worth of bitcoin to users&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}