BEARISH 📉 : Bithumb $43 Billion Bitcoin Error Sparks Political Scrutiny in South Korea

South Korean lawmakers are increasing scrutiny on financial regulators after a system error at Bithumb, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, led to mistakenly distributing over $43 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Key Points

The incident occurred on February 6 and has raised questions about regulatory oversight in the virtual asset market.
Bithumb was reviewed three times by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and inspected by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) between 2022 and 2025, yet no issues were detected.
Rep. Kang Min-guk cited the episode as revealing deeper structural weaknesses, including complacent supervision and regulatory gaps.
The system erroneously credited users with 2,000 Bitcoin instead of Bitcoin worth 2,000 won ($1.38), totaling 620,000 incorrectly distributed Bitcoin.
Rep. Han Chang-min criticized regulators for shifting responsibility onto Bithumb despite their supervisory role.

Regulatory Response

The FSS extended its investigation deadline to the end of the month to allow more time for review.
An eight-member team is investigating potential violations related to investor protection and anti-money laundering compliance.
Authorities have formed an emergency response team with the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA) to inspect other platforms like Upbit, Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX.

Bithumb

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $67,763, reflecting a 2% decline over seven days.