South Korea’s crypto exchange Bithumb mistakenly credited some users with 2,000 BTC
instead of 2,000 South Korean won — and during the incident, the on-platform Bitcoin price briefly
dipped to around $55,000. The company said it quickly restricted trading on the affected accounts,
and prices returned to normal within minutes.
According to CoinDesk, the error happened during a promotion: instead of awarding 2,000 KRW
(about $1.5), the exchange credited some users with 2,000 bitcoins. After noticing the huge balances,
some recipients tried to sell BTC, causing a sharp divergence in prices: on Bithumb, Bitcoin traded
10–15% lower than on other crypto exchanges. CoinDesk noted that at one point BTC was priced at
81 million won (around $55,000) on the platform.
Bithumb said it restricted activity on the accounts impacted by the erroneous credits shortly after the incident.
The company said prices on the exchange normalized in about five minutes. It also emphasized that the incident
was not related to a cyberattack or a security breach, and that client assets remain protected.
Based on aggregated data from CoinMarketCap, as of 20:10 Moscow time, Bitcoin was trading at around
$70,200. Meanwhile, on the night of February 6, 2026, BTC fell to around $60,000 —
the first time since autumn 2024. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg described the situation as a
“crisis of confidence” in the market, saying investors began to question “Bitcoin’s role as a safe haven”
amid volatility in equity markets.