South Korea’s Bithumb exchange mistakenly credited 249 user accounts with 620,000 ghost bitcoins because of an input error that used BTC instead of won, temporarily inflating the internal ledger and causing a localized price crash. The exchange said it recovered about 99.7% of the phantom balance but approximately 125 BTC remained unrecovered as regulators opened investigations.

An accounting mistake at South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Bithumb, resulted in an erroneous ledger entry that credited 249 user accounts with a total of 620,000 bitcoin units in what the firm described as a ‘ghost’ transfer. The input error reportedly occurred when BTC units were entered instead of won currency, instantly inflating internal balances and triggering volatility and a localized price disturbance. Bithumb has communicated that it recovered roughly 99.7% of the phantom coins through internal reconciliations and rollbacks, but about 125 BTC remained unrecovered, prompting customer concern and market scrutiny. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service and other regulators launched high‑intensity probes, warning the episode highlights structural operational and control risks at centralized, ledger‑based exchanges and could lead to tougher audits and regulatory measures. The incident prompted immediate reviews of reconciliation processes, access controls, and change‑management procedures across the domestic exchange sector as authorities weigh potential penalties and broader market oversight reforms to prevent similar technological or human errors from producing systemic contagion.