Crypto disaster sends $44 billion in bitcoins to random users — exchange accidentally makes funds vanish thanks to a typo

A typo at South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb led to the accidental distribution of $44 billion in bitcoins to users during a promotional event. The mistake involved sending selected users bitcoin rewards instead of small cash incentives, resulting in approximately 620,000 bitcoins being distributed incorrectly. Bithumb quickly identified the issue, recovered most of the assets, and imposed restrictions on trading and withdrawals to mitigate the impact. The incident was attributed to an internal error and not a security breach, with authorities now reviewing oversight procedures for crypto exchanges in South Korea.