Key Insights:
- Bithumb announced an internal payout error that briefly shook Bitcoin prices as a promotion.
- The problem was fixed in minutes and did not require any hacking or a chain transfer.
- Bithumb claimed that no customer funds had been stolen and it was operating as usual.
Bithumb disclosed this week that an internal payout error during a promotional campaign led to an abnormal amount of Bitcoin being credited to some user accounts, briefly disrupting prices on the exchange before internal controls restored stability.
Bithumb Bitcoin Payout Error Linked to Promotional Giveaway
The incident occurred during a promotional campaign tied to Bithumb’s “Random Box” giveaway, a program that distributes small-value rewards to participating users. In an announcement released Friday, the exchange said an internal payout error resulted in certain accounts receiving significantly more Bitcoin than intended.
The unexpected credits briefly affected prices on the platform after some recipients sold the balances mistakenly credited to them. Bithumb stated that the error originated in its internal accounting systems, not its blockchain infrastructure.
Bithumb stated that 96% of participants were meant to receive the lowest-tier reward, which it described as a prize valued at around 2,000 South Korean won. Based on this structure, roughly 672 users were positioned to receive minimal rewards, but some of those accounts were instead credited with Bitcoin in error.
Several users on X claimed that individual accounts were mistakenly credited with roughly 2,000 Bitcoin each. Bithumb has not confirmed these figures, and the claims have not been independently verified.
However, using those unverified estimates and current market prices, the implied value of the accidental credits would exceed $95.4 billion. The exchange has not disclosed the precise amount involved.
Price Volatility Contained Within Minutes
Bithumb stated that some recipients sold the credited Bitcoin shortly after the balances appeared, triggering sharp but temporary price fluctuations on the exchange. The company stated that it quickly identified abnormal trading activity and restricted the affected accounts using internal risk controls.
According to Bithumb, these measures allowed prices to stabilize within minutes and prevented any chain liquidations or broader spillover effects. Trading, deposits, and withdrawals continued to operate normally throughout the incident, the exchange said.
In a blog post published the same day, Bithumb said the irregularity was detected and corrected within five minutes. The company reiterated that the Bithumb Bitcoin payout error did not compromise customer funds or system security and did not result in losses to any user’s preexisting assets.
Bithumb repeatedly stressed that the incident was not the result of hacking or unauthorized access. “We want to make it clear that this incident is unrelated to any external hacking or security breach, and does not pose any issues with system security or customer asset management,” the company said in its statement. The exchange also stated that its customer funds were securely managed and that it would announce remedial actions to ensure that the same internal mistakes are not repeated.
Context of Dormant Assets and Exchange Metrics
The announcement comes after Bithumb earlier in January stated that it had estimated approximately 200 million inactive customer accounts distributed across nearly 2.6 million accounts that had not been active for more than one year.
Although Bithumb claimed that the payout error was mitigated by internal controls, the incident adds to a list of recent operational disturbances reported by various large cryptocurrency exchanges. Such incidents have occurred despite no breaches of security or external attacks.
In June, Coinbase admitted that account restrictions have been a long-term problem for its customers. The U.S.-based exchange said it reduced unnecessary account freezes by 82% after upgrading its machine-learning models and internal infrastructure. The disclosure followed years of user complaints about prolonged account lockouts, sometimes during volatile market conditions.
Similarly, during the Oct. 10 market sell-off that triggered billions of dollars in liquidations across the crypto market, Binance faced user complaints that technical issues prevented some traders from exiting positions during peak volatility. Binance stated that its core trading systems remained operational and that the liquidations were primarily due to broader market dynamics. The exchange later distributed approximately $728 million in compensation to affected users.
