Bithumb Secures 194M Won Court Win Over Mistaken Bitcoin Credits

Highlights:

• Bithumb won a 194 million won lawsuit over money gained from its February Bitcoin reward error.
• The error gave users Bitcoin Credits after an employee selected BTC instead of Korean won.
• South Korean regulators introduced stronger exchange controls after the February payout mistake.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb secured a 194 million won court victory today over its February Bitcoin reward error. Judge Kim Yu-seong of the Seoul Central District Court’s 90th Civil Division ruled for Bithumb. The court ordered the customer to return proceeds gained from Bitcoin that Bithumb mistakenly credited in February. Bithumb argued that the customer had no legal right to keep money gained from selling the incorrect balance.

🚨𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗕 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠 𝗠𝗜𝗦‑𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗢𝗜𝗡!

Bithumb secured a win in the second of four lawsuits aimed at retrieving Bitcoin that was erroneously credited to users.

The error stemmed from… pic.twitter.com/KfmszJPIdn

— Rahul K (@iamrahulinc) August 27, 2026

The 194 million won dispute represents the second-largest of four civil claims that Bithumb filed in March. Bithumb also sought about 500 million won, 14.8 million won, and five million won from three other customers. The four lawsuits seek about 713.8 million won from customers who allegedly kept proceeds from the February error. Bithumb filed the cases after the customers allegedly failed to return the remaining money.

Bithumb also won a related 4.99 million won recovery case at the Seoul Central District Court on August 26. The courts reportedly served the lawsuits through public notice after officials could not deliver documents directly to the defendants.

Bithumb is still awaiting decisions on lawsuits seeking about 500 million won and 14.8 million won. Public reports had not disclosed court dates or judgments for those two cases as of press time. Bithumb filed civil unjust enrichment claims to recover the sale proceeds rather than pursue criminal penalties against the four customers.

February Bithumb Error Gave Users Bitcoin Credits

Bithumb triggered the dispute during a February 6 promotion that offered random rewards to 695 participating customers. The exchange intended to distribute 620,000 won in total rewards through the promotion. However, a Bithumb employee selected BTC instead of Korean won as the payment unit while processing the rewards. The unit error caused Bithumb’s internal ledger to credit the participating accounts with 620,000 BTC.

The Bithumb error gave users Bitcoin Credits through its internal ledger rather than through blockchain transfers. Therefore, Bithumb did not send 620,000 Bitcoin from its wallets to customers. The 620,000 BTC ledger balance also exceeded Bithumb’s actual Bitcoin holdings at the time.

Bithumb identified the BTC unit error about 20 minutes later. Bithumb began blocking trading and withdrawals from affected customer accounts around 7:35 p.m and it completed restrictions across all 695 affected accounts by about 7:40 p.m.

However, some customers sold the mistakenly credited Bitcoin before Bithumb restricted their accounts. The resulting sales briefly pushed Bithumb’s BTC/KRW price about 15% to 17% below wider market levels. The price disruption occurred before the exchange completed restrictions on the affected accounts.

Bithumb initially reversed incorrect ledger credits representing 618,212 BTC before customers could sell those balances. The reversed balances represented about 99.7% of the 620,000 BTC mistakenly credited through Bithumb’s internal system.

By March 10, Bithumb told South Korean lawmakers that it had recovered about 99% of the 1,788 BTC. Four customers still allegedly retained sale proceeds after Bithumb sought the return of the remaining assets. The disputed proceeds prompted Bithumb to pursue about 713.8 million won through four civil lawsuits in March.

Regulators Tighten Crypto Exchange Controls

South Korean regulators reviewed crypto exchange controls after Bithumb’s February error exposed weaknesses in internal accounting and manual reward payments. Authorities examined ledger reconciliation, payment approval procedures, and operational risk controls following the incident. Their review expanded beyond Bithumb and focused on preventing similar errors across domestic crypto exchanges.

South Korea's FSC under fire as Bithumb credited 620k BTC it didn't hold, sparking a rush to sell and new questions on custody. Regulators say stern actions are coming, but scrutiny remains. Is this a market wake-up call or growing pains for crypto oversight? What are your takes?…

— Notivo (@notivonews) February 20, 2026

In April, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission ordered exchanges to strengthen automated checks between customer records and actual cryptocurrency holdings. The new rules require exchanges to reconcile customer balances with actual crypto holdings every five minutes.