Bithumb System Flaws Lead to $40 Billion Bitcoin Error, Impacting Market
South Korea's Bithumb, the country's second-largest virtual asset exchange, recently experienced a significant system error that resulted in the erroneous transfer of over $40 billion in assets. During a promotional event, the exchange mistakenly distributed approximately 620,000 bitcoins to customers instead of 620,000 won, equivalent to $426. This error caused a 17% drop in bitcoin's price. Bithumb's CEO, Lee Jae-won, acknowledged the internal system's deficiencies, which included a 24-hour transaction processing lag that delayed updates to virtual asset balances. The exchange's policy failed to verify the volume of currency against its actual holdings, and the amount was not secured in a separate account. Although most bitcoins were retrieved, 1,786 were sold before the exchange could freeze the accounts. Customers who sold the bitcoins are legally required to return them. 
