South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb made a huge mistake by accidentally sending over $40 billion worth of bitcoin to its users on Friday. Instead of sending a small promotional amount of about 2,000 won ($1.37) to each customer, Bithumb transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user, totaling 620,000 bitcoins. The platform quickly blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event,” Bithumb said in a statement. The company recovered 99.7 percent of the mistakenly sent bitcoins and said it would use its own money to cover any losses. The error caused “sharp volatility” in bitcoin prices on Bithumb’s platform, with prices dropping 17 percent to 81.1 million won briefly on Friday. The platform brought the situation under control within five minutes. Some trades were made at bad prices due to panic selling. Bithumb plans to compensate affected users fully, including a 10 percent bonus, estimating losses at about 1 billion won. Bithumb stressed that the incident was “unrelated to external hacking or security breaches.” Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has recently dropped, losing gains made after US President Donald Trump’s 2024 election win.