Bithumb, a cryptocurrency exchange, recently encountered a significant error by mistakenly disbursing large amounts of Bitcoin, reminiscent of a major incident involving Samsung Securities eight years prior when the company mistakenly attributed ghost stocks during a dividend distribution. In the Samsung incident, the firm incorrectly processed a cash dividend as a stock dividend, leading to a distribution of an astonishing 28 billion shares instead of just 2018, which resulted in a dramatic decline in stock price as employees rushed to sell the mistakenly issued shares.

The parallels between Bithumb's situation and Samsung's ghost stock scandal are striking—the critical mistake in both cases arose from human error without adequate safeguards or verification steps in place. Bithumb improperly categorized event prize winnings, intending to distribute funds in South Korean won but inadvertently issued them in Bitcoin, leading to the issuance of a staggering 620,000 Bitcoins worth around 60 trillion won. This mistake impacted market prices as users sold the sizeable amounts of Bitcoin rapidly after their accounts were credited.

Both cases highlight glaring shortcomings in regulatory oversight and internal controls within financial and cryptocurrency institutions. The initial reactions were focused on how such non-existent assets could be mistakenly processed, raising questions about the robustness of the systems designed to prevent such occurrences. Financial authorities are expected to delve into both Bithumb's and Samsung's operational processes closely, emphasizing the urgent need for stricter oversight and more reliable transaction verification methods to prevent similar incidents in the future.