Seoul court ruled Bithumb customer must return $140,400 from mistakenly credited Bitcoin; part of recovery from February error that inflated 620,000 BTC to users against exchange's 40,000 BTC holdings.
Regulation & Gov ·
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that a Bithumb customer must return approximately $140,400 in proceeds from Bitcoin they sold after the funds were mistakenly credited to their account, determining the transaction constituted unjust enrichment. The ruling represents part of the South Korean exchange's broader recovery efforts following a February system error.
During that error, Bithumb mistakenly credited approximately 620,000 BTC to user accounts as part of a promotional activity, despite holding only around 40,000 BTC in actual reserves. The discrepancy exposed a significant operational gap between credited balances and available assets on the platform.
The incident triggered regulatory attention in South Korea, prompting emergency reviews of exchange practices. Authorities subsequently established new requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges to perform frequent reconciliation of customer account balances, aiming to prevent similar errors from occurring in the future. The court decision establishes a legal precedent for recovery of mistakenly credited funds, though the scope and success of broader recovery efforts remain unclear.