Bithumb, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, recently addressed an internal error that resulted in unusual Bitcoin allocations to user accounts during a promotional event. This glitch led to temporary price fluctuations on the platform. In a statement released on Friday, Bithumb clarified that the price irregularities were caused by some users selling the mistakenly credited Bitcoin. The exchange acted swiftly by imposing restrictions on these accounts, stabilizing the market within minutes and averting potential cascading liquidations.
Bithumb emphasized that the incident was not related to any security breach or hacking attempt, and assured that no customer assets were compromised. Additionally, the platform confirmed that all trading, deposit, and withdrawal functions are currently operating smoothly. The company has committed to safeguarding customer funds and will provide transparent updates on measures to avert similar mistakes in the future.
Although Bithumb did not reveal the specific amount involved in the error, some users on social media platform X alleged that around 2,000 Bitcoin (BTC) were erroneously credited, though this claim remains unverified. This incident follows Bithumb's January announcement of identifying approximately $200 million in dormant assets across 2.6 million inactive accounts as part of a recovery initiative. As per CoinGecko, Bithumb holds a trust score of 7 out of 10 and reported a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $2.2 billion at the time of reporting.
The event highlights ongoing operational issues faced by centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, which have been under scrutiny due to disruptions during both routine and high-stress market conditions. In a related development, Coinbase acknowledged in June that it had significantly reduced unnecessary account restrictions by improving its machine-learning models and internal systems. This was in response to prolonged user grievances about account access during volatile market periods.
Similarly, during a major market downturn on October 10, Binance encountered complaints from users who faced technical difficulties while attempting to manage their positions amidst peak volatility. Although Binance maintained that its core systems were functioning and attributed the issues to broader market dynamics, it compensated affected users with approximately $728 million.
These incidents underscore the challenges centralized exchanges face in maintaining operational integrity and user trust during market fluctuations.