86 customers sell bitcoins accidentally sent by Bithumb: authorities

▲ A person walks past an advertisement for a promotional event by Bithumb, a South Korean crypto exchange, in this photo taken Feb. 8, 2026. (Yonhap)

crypto exchange-accident

86 customers sell bitcoins accidentally sent by Bithumb: authorities

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- A total of 86 customers have sold some or all of the bitcoins accidentally sent to them by Bithumb, a South Korean crypto exchange, last week, financial authorities said Monday.

On Friday, the crypto exchange accidentally gave away more than US$40 billion worth of bitcoins to its customers in a promotional event, temporary making them multi-millionaires.

It had planned to give away small cash rewards totaling 620,000 won (US$423.6) to 249 customers, but instead sent 620,000 bitcoins, triggering a sell-off at the exchange.

The crypto exchange halted the transactions and began retrieving the wrongfully sent bitcoins at around 7:40 p.m. Friday.

Bithumb said it has recouped most of the bitcoins sold by users, but has yet to recover 125 bitcoins, worth around 13 billion won.

Of them, around 3 billion won is said to have already been withdrawn and transferred to customers' bank accounts. The remaining 10 billion won has been used to purchase other virtual assets, according to the officials.

"We are individually contacting customers who have already sold off the wrongly sent bitcoins and persuading them to return the money, while also coordinating methods to recoup them," an official from the exchange said.

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