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Bithumb Begins Compensating Users Affected by Accidental Bitcoin Giveaway

Written: 2026-02-09 16:03:37Updated: 2026-02-09 16:03:55

Bithumb Begins Compensating Users Affected by Accidental Bitcoin Giveaway

Photo : YONHAP News

Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has begun compensating users affected by a sudden price drop that resulted from the accidental distribution of 620-thousand bitcoins during a promotional event.

Users who incurred losses will receive the amount they lost, plus an additional ten percent.

Bithumb is also waiving its transaction fees for one week starting at 12 a.m. Monday.

Users who were logged onto the crypto exchange’s mobile app or website at the time of the incident will be eligible for a payout of 20-thousand won, or around 14 U.S. dollars.

Rather than sending bitcoins worth a total of 620-thousand won to 249 participants as planned during Friday’s event, Bithumb gave away 620-thousand bitcoins by mistake, with each recipient getting an average of two-thousand-490 bitcoins valued at 244 billion won each.

Though Bithumb halted trading and withdrawals from affected user accounts, the bitcoin price temporarily plunged to 81-point-one million won after some users immediately sold the bitcoins they received.

The exchange recovered 99-point-seven percent of the bitcoins right away, but approximately 12-point-five billion won has yet to be recovered.

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