South Korea probes Bithumb after erroneous 620,000 BTC crediting

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service has opened an investigation into Bithumb after the exchange mistakenly credited hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin that it did not actually hold to user accounts. The probe targets alleged platform violations related to the erroneous crediting of billions of dollars in non-existent BTC.

Bithumb acknowledged the incident, saying the platform "incorrectly paid" 620,000 BTC during a promotional event and recovered most of the miscredited coins, while about 125 BTC remains unsettled. "We are taking this case very seriously," an FSS official said, adding the regulator will take stern legal actions against acts that harm the market order.

Authorities pointed to mismatches between crypto held in Bithumb’s wallets and amounts credited to user accounts and cited deficiencies in internal controls. The error reportedly stemmed from a single point of failure, with one staff member responsible for the incorrect BTC crediting.

South Korea

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