SEOUL, Feb 7, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange apologised on Saturday after mistakenly transferring more than $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, which briefly prompted a selloff on the platform. Bithumb said it accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than $40 billion, and blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes after the error occurred on Friday. The platform said it had recovered 99.7 percent of the mistakenly sent bitcoins, and that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident. Its charts showed the token's prices briefly went down 17 percent to 81.1 million won on the platform late Friday. Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by US President Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November 2024.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha February 07, 2026 13:05 UTC