South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb accidentally gave away over $40 billion worth of bitcoin to customers on Friday. Instead of sending a small cash reward of 2,000 won (about $1.37), it mistakenly sent 2,000 bitcoins to affected users. The platform apologised and said it quickly realized the error, recovering 99.7% of the 620,000 bitcoins sent by mistake. Trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected customers were restricted within 35 minutes of the glitch. Bithumb reassured users, stating, "We want to make it clear that this matter has nothing to do with external hacking or security breaches, and there is no problem with system security or customer asset management." South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) held an emergency meeting and said it would investigate the incident and take action if any illegal activity is found. Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won said, "[We] will take this accident as a lesson and prioritise 'customer trust and peace of mind' rather than external growth." The company plans to compensate all customers using the platform at the time with 20,000 won ($13.66) and waive trading fees temporarily. It will also improve its verification systems and introduce artificial intelligence to detect unusual transactions. This incident may renew talks about stronger financial regulations. A similar huge mistake happened in April 2024 when Citigroup accidentally credited $81 trillion instead of $280 to a customer's account, but the bank quickly reversed it.