A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange apologized Saturday after mistakenly transferring more than $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, which briefly prompted a selloff on the platform.
Bithumb said it accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than $40 billion, and blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes after the error occurred Friday.
According to local reports, Bithumb was meant to send about $1.37 to each customer as part of a promotion, but mistakenly transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user.
"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event," Bithumb said in a statement.
The platform said it had recovered 99.7% of the mistakenly sent bitcoins, and that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident.
It admitted the error briefly caused "sharp volatility" in bitcoin prices on the platform as some recipients sold the tokens, adding that it brought the situation under control within five minutes.
Its charts showed the token's price briefly went down 17% to around $56,000 on the platform late Friday.
In a separate statement released later Saturday, Bithumb said some trades were executed at unfavorable prices for users due to a price drop during the incident Friday, including "panic selling."
The platform said it would compensate affected customers, covering the full price difference as well as a 10% bonus.
It estimated losses at about $683,000.
The platform earlier stressed that the incident was "unrelated to external hacking or security breaches."
Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by President Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November 2024.