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Bithumb

South Korean centralized cryptocurrency exchange. In February 2026 it accidentally credited users with approximately 620,000 BTC in an internal promotional payout / ledger error, temporarily restricted affected accounts, recovered most erroneous balances, and came under regulatory inspection. The exchange remained active.

CEXActive
Also known as: Bithumb Korea, Bithumb Exchange

Registry sequence

Key facts

Launch date
2014-01-01
Death date
Years
2014–—
Origin
South Korea
Confidence
high
Last verified
2026-04-26

URL handling

Preferred action
Use current URL handling based on status below.
URL status
Live unverified
Archived URL

Summary

South Korean centralized cryptocurrency exchange. In February 2026 it accidentally credited users with approximately 620,000 BTC in an internal promotional payout / ledger error, temporarily restricted affected accounts, recovered most erroneous balances, and came under regulatory inspection. The exchange remained active.

Timeline

Bithumb accidentally credited users with massive BTC balances
2026-02-06othercritical

Bithumb mistakenly recorded approximately 620,000 BTC as promotional rewards in user accounts, a ledger/payout error widely reported as equivalent to tens of billions of U.S. dollars at the time.

Bithumb restricted affected accounts after the crediting error
2026-02-06withdrawal_suspendedhigh

Bithumb restricted affected users' trading and withdrawals within about 35 minutes of the erroneous crediting incident and later recovered the vast majority of the mistaken balances.

Bithumb incident prompted regulatory inspection
2026-02-08regulatory_actionhigh

South Korean regulators and authorities were reported to be inspecting Bithumb after the erroneous BTC crediting incident exposed internal-control and operational-risk concerns.

Evidence

Bithumb2026-04-07official_statementmedium reliabilityentityarchive
Reuters2026-02-07news_articlehigh reliabilityeventarchive
The Dong-A Ilbo2026-02-09news_articlemedium reliabilityeventarchive

Related records

Notes and record state

Record note
Do not mark dead or hacked. The February 2026 incident was reported as an internal ledger / promotional payout error rather than an external theft. Track it as a severe operational incident with affected-account restrictions and regulatory review while keeping the entity active.
Revision state
Records may be incomplete, approximate, contested, or revised as better evidence becomes available.
This record may be incomplete or revised. Dead-side entries prefer archived URLs over original domains. Dates, causes, and classifications may change when stronger evidence becomes available. Contact / corrections

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