$43 Billion Bitcoin Error Puts Bithumb Under FSS Scrutiny

Crypto News Regulation

Bithumb Under Fire After $43 Billion Bitcoin Error Triggers FSS Review

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: February 11, 2026

Key Takeaways

South Korea’s FSS reviews Bithumb after user accounts showed huge Bitcoin balances that the exchange did not actually hold;
Bithumb cites a promotional error for the false 620,000 BTC credit and still faces 125 BTC in unresolved entries that raise market concerns;
Regulators warn that incidents of this scale may weaken trust in exchanges and could lead to legal action if market stability faces any risk.

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Bithumb Under Fire After $43 Billion Bitcoin Error Triggers FSS Review

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South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is reviewing Bithumb $765.09M after the exchange displayed large Bitcoin BTC $69,033.24 balances that did not exist in its holdings.

The FSS began the review when user accounts showed hundreds of thousands of BTC that the platform did not actually own.

According to Yonhap News, the FSS is checking whether Bithumb violated platform rules by allowing this error to appear as real balances.

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Bithumb explained the situation on February 7. It said a promotional event caused the system to “incorrectly pay” 620,000 BTC, worth about $42.8 billion, to many users.

The exchange managed to reverse most of these false entries. However, around 125 BTC, valued at roughly $8.6 million, remains unresolved.

This gap has raised concerns about how centralized exchanges manage their operations. It also renewed public discussions about “paper Bitcoin", in which account balances may not match verifiable assets.

Bithumb said customers did not lose money and that all actual funds remained safe. Even so, financial officials in South Korea noted that mistakes of this scale may affect trust in the broader market.

One FSS representative stated that the agency views the matter seriously and intends to take legal action if any behavior is found to disrupt market stability.

Recently, Bithumb corrected a promo error that sent extra Bitcoin to some users and caused a short price shift. How did it happen? Read the full story.