Bitcoin blunder: South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb accidentally gives away $40bn
South Korea is investigating how cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb initiated an exchange of $40 billion in Bitcoin that it apparently did not have.
The Seoul exchange started crediting customer accounts on February 6 with the digital currency rather than the 2,000 won ($1.37) per person authorised for a promotional campaign. The incident reportedly stemmed from an employee inputting the payout as Bitcoin rather than won.
In the 20 minutes it took to recognise the mistake, 620,000 “ghost Bitcoin” ($40 billion) – rather than 620,000 won ($423) – appeared across the balances of hundreds of customer accounts, according to Bithumb.
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service said it was looking into the incident and had initiated on-site…
