Bithumb won the first ruling in four civil lawsuits seeking to recover proceeds from Bitcoin mistakenly credited to customers during a February promotional event.
Bithumb's First Case Involved 194 Million Won
Judge Kim Yu-seong of the Seoul Central District Court's 90th Civil Division ruled for Bithumb on Aug. 27 and ordered the defendant to return approximately 194 million won as unjust enrichment. The decision is a first-instance judgment and may be appealed. Bithumb filed separate civil claims against four users in March. The exchange alleged that the users sold Bitcoin credited to them by mistake and retained the resulting cash after being asked to return it.
The combined reported claims total approximately 713.8 million won. Court schedules for the other three cases have not been publicly disclosed. This exchange recovery effort follows other high-profile crypto incidents, including the Kraken dust transfer incident earlier this week.
Bitcoin Payout Error Occurred on Bithumb's Ledger
Bithumb intended to distribute 620,000 won in total rewards during a random-box event on Feb. 6. An employee selected Bitcoin as the payment unit, causing the exchange's internal system to credit 620,000 BTC instead. The full amount was not transferred across the Bitcoin blockchain. The credits existed primarily within Bithumb's internal ledger and exceeded the exchange's actual Bitcoin holdings. Bithumb's official notice said the company identified the mistake after 20 minutes and began blocking trading and withdrawals 15 minutes later.
Restrictions covering 695 customers were completed within 35 minutes. Some recipients sold mistakenly credited Bitcoin before the controls took effect. The selling briefly pushed Bithumb's BTC/KRW price about 17% lower than the wider market. This fat-finger error is one of several notable Bitcoin movement events this week, alongside the Bitcoin whale movements after decade-long dormancy.
Bithumb Recovered Most Disputed Assets Before Suing
Bithumb initially said it recovered more than 99% of the mistaken credits through account reversals and voluntary returns. It later reported to South Korea's National Assembly that 99% of the 1,788 BTC sold or left unrecovered during the initial response had been recovered by March 10. The exchange also sought provisional asset seizures before filing its civil claims.
The court's ruling supports Bithumb's argument that customers cannot retain proceeds generated from an obvious payment error. South Korea's Financial Services Commission found broader weaknesses in exchange ledger reconciliation, approval systems and operational-risk controls following the incident. In April, the regulator ordered exchanges to introduce automated balance reconciliation at five-minute intervals. The Financial Supervisory Service reportedly sent Bithumb an inspection opinion in early August, starting a process that allows the exchange to respond before a proposed sanction reaches the regulator's review committee.
