South Korean Bithumb’s $44 Billion Blunder Lands Entire Digital Asset Ecosystem In The Hot Seat.

Seoul; February 2026: The erroneous transfer of Bitcoins worth 64 trillion won ($44 billion) at Bithumb has prompted financial authorities to scrutinise not only the internal control system of the country’s second-largest cryptocurrency operator but the overall reliability of digital asset service providers.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) pointed to a lack of oversight as the fundamental cause, with the system allowing far more tokens to be issued than the exchange actually holds, which is roughly 13 times, following a mistake by an employee.

“This incident was first caused by human error, but the core issue stems from the absence of internal control mechanisms to prevent such operational risks”, the central bank said in a statement released at the request of Representative Cha Gyu-geun of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party.

The employee mistakenly entered 2,000 Bitcoins instead of the intended 2,000 won for each of the 249 winners of a promotional event on 06th February 2026. “To prevent a recurrence of such an incident, it is necessary to establish a double-check control framework and systems capable of detecting and controlling human errors before they materialise”, it said.

It is extremely rare for the central bank to comment on a specific financial case under investigation, although the entity is required to respond to an inquiry on pending issues posed by a member of the Strategy and Finance Committee at the National Assembly. The central bank went on to call for strengthened internal control requirements stipulated in the Digital Asset Basic Act as the government is pushing to pass the regulatory framework for digital assets within the first quarter.

“As similar incidents could occur upon the introduction of a won-denominated stablecoin, it is necessary to strengthen internal control requirements when enacting the Digital Asset Basic Act in order to ensure security in won-based stablecoin issuance and distribution”, it said.

In addressing the request for an assessment of the incident, the BOK cited a $300 trillion stablecoin blunder by Paxos, the New York-based blockchain partner of PayPal, last year, as an example of lax oversight inherent in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Bithumb held around 42,000 Bitcoins as of the third quarter of last year, 175 of which belonged to the company and the remainder being customer deposits, according to a quarterly report filed on the electronic disclosure. Financial regulators have stepped up their response to the case, shifting from an on-site inspection to a full formal investigation. The Financial Supervisory Service significantly expanded the scope of its probe by deploying additional personnel in light of the severity of the incident.

On the day of the incident, 1,788 mistakenly distributed Bitcoins hit the market, causing the price of Bitcoin on Bithumb to temporarily plunge to around 81 million won, while the asset traded at around 97 million won on rival exchange Upbit. The sudden drop in valuation led to at least 64 cases of forced liquidations of collateralized Bitcoins on the exchange worth 1 billion won, but industry insiders project that total damages could be larger.

Again, on 07th February this year, Bithumb, Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, mistakenly credited users with Bitcoin worth approximately 260 billion won ($195 million), instead of the modest number of reward points or Bitcoin that it had intended to distribute. The mishap led to a brief plunge in Bitcoin prices on the platform and prompted a halt in deposits and withdrawals, sparking market-wide confusion.

According to the local cryptocurrency industry on Friday, the incident occurred around 19:30 hours during Bithumb’s “Random Box” giveaway event. The platform had intended to offer users either a small amount of reward points or roughly 2,000 won in Bitcoin. However, due to a configuration error, the rewards were issued not as points but as full Bitcoin units. As a result, 249 users each received 2,000 Bitcoin, which is equivalent to approximately 260 billion won per person, at current market value.

Some recipients began selling the erroneously credited Bitcoin, causing the price of Bitcoin on Bithumb to nosedive to 81.11 million won at one point, which was more than 16% below the global market price. The price has since rebounded to around 98 million won. Bithumb halted all cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals at 19:40 hours, just minutes after identifying the error, and began efforts to recover the misallocated funds.

As of now, approximately 416,000 BTC, the equivalent of 164 recipients, has been successfully recovered, mostly because the assets remained unused. However, roughly 3 billion won in Bitcoin had already been transferred off the platform. Bithumb announced that all mistakenly issued Bitcoin is locked for trading and withdrawal, and will be fully reclaimed.

According to Coin Market Cap, the global price of Bitcoin briefly fell to around $61,000 on Friday, its lowest point since October 2024. The drop erased much of the gains made during the second Trump administration and marked a sharp decline from the all-time high of $125,000 last October.

The direct catalyst for the decline was a statement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a House hearing on Wednesday. When asked by Rep. Brad Sherman whether the government had the authority to intervene to prevent a collapse in Bitcoin prices or direct private banks to purchase the cryptocurrency, Bessent replied, “I do not have the authority to do that”, adding that the government would only hold Bitcoin seized in legal proceedings.

Bitcoin prices had been climbing thanks to pro-crypto signals from the Trump administration and increased capital inflows from spot ETFs. But with the clear policy signal that no bailout would come, leveraged positions were rapidly liquidated, accelerating a sell-off.

Team Maverick.