Bithumb, South Korea's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, recently faced a major incident where it erroneously issued 620,000 bitcoins, valued at about 60 trillion won, to winners of a promotional event. This blunder occurred when the exchange intended to distribute a monetary reward but mistakenly entered the amount in bitcoins. The amount issued was nine times greater than what Bithumb actually holds, severely affecting the exchange’s credibility and prompting immediate internal and regulatory responses.

The incorrect issuance created a temporary price drop in Bithumb's Bitcoin market, falling to around 80 million won, which was about 17% lower than Bitcoin prices on other exchanges. Upon realizing the mistake, Bithumb promptly halted transactions for the related accounts and initiated efforts to recover the erroneously issued bitcoins. The incident resulted in financial losses for users who sold their bitcoins hastily, but Bithumb has pledged to fully compensate these users, aiming to mitigate the fallout from this operational blunder.

Reactions within the cryptocurrency industry vary, with some viewing this event as a minor mishap attributed to employee error, while others see it as a serious undermining of trust in the centralized cryptocurrency exchange system. The event highlighted structural weaknesses, specifically the lack of internal controls to prevent the internal generation and circulation of nonexistent assets, raising questions about how centralized exchanges manage virtual assets and the risks that come with their reliance on accounting transactions rather than actual asset transfers.