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The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, which ranks second in trading volume in the country, mistakenly transferred 2000 bitcoins (approximately $132 million at the current rate) to hundreds of clients during a KRW airdrop instead of the intended 2000 KRW ($1.35).
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Following the incident, the price of bitcoin on Bithumb dropped by 10% compared to other major trading platforms. According to reports from exchange clients on social media platform X, the exchange’s team responded swiftly to the situation: many individuals who unexpectedly became millionaires faced account suspensions.
Bithumb has not yet issued an official statement regarding the reasons for the error or the timeline for account reinstatements.
On February 4, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) initiated an investigation into Bithumb due to advertisements in which the exchange claimed to have the highest liquidity among local virtual asset exchanges. The KFTC aims to determine whether the exchange misled viewers. Officials have seized some documents from Bithumb.
Upbit is the leader in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market, with a trading volume exceeding $180.7 billion (65% of the market). Bithumb’s volume stands at $86.5 billion (31% market share). Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax account for less than 4% of the market. This market concentration has led to the phenomenon known as the “kimchi premium,” which refers to the price disparity between cryptocurrencies on Korean exchanges and those on global platforms. At the beginning of 2025, the “kimchi premium” reached nearly 12%, but a year later, amid a decline in cryptocurrencies and government regulation, it nearly vanished.
Previously, the Financial Security Service of the Republic of Korea (FSS) began investigating suspicious activity on Upbit: on February 1, the price of the ZKsync token from Matter Labs surged by 970% in just three hours before crashing.
