South Korean exchange Bithumb has moved to freeze assets of clients who failed to return bitcoins mistakenly credited to their accounts in February 2026. According to local media, asset freezes are a preliminary step before filing a civil lawsuit. This measure prevents defendants from withdrawing or selling assets until a court decision is made.
A $43B Error
On February 6, Bithumb was running a promotional event: 249 winners were supposed to receive between 2,000 and 50,000 won each — totaling 620,000 won. However, the operator made a unit error and transferred BTC instead of Korean won — 620,000 BTC in total, worth about 62 trillion won.
The mistake was noticed within minutes, and the transfers were reversed. However, some users managed to sell the coins or exchange them for other cryptocurrencies. As a result, the exchange was unable to recover bitcoins worth approximately 12.3B won.
Bithumb resolved the issue privately with most users, but some refused to return the funds, arguing the mistake was on the exchange and that they owed nothing.
A Court Battle Is Almost Inevitable
Legal experts expect the court to side with the exchange. Lee Chan-jin, head of the Financial Supervisory Authority and a former lawyer, stated that mistakenly credited assets fall under the concept of unjust enrichment. Selling or converting them into fiat, he noted, could create legal risks for users.
Repayment must be made in BTC, which creates an additional risk for those involved. In early February, when the error occurred, the price of bitcoin on Bithumb dropped to 80 M won. It is now trading above 105 M won — meaning those who sold at 80 M must now buy back at a loss of more than 25 M won per bitcoin.
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