[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] South Korean politicians have criticized Bithumb following an unprecedented incident in which the cryptocurrency exchange mistakenly credited bitcoin worth an estimated KRW 60 trillion ($45 billion) to users.

Kim Ji-ho, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, said in a briefing on Wednesday that the so-called “ghost bitcoin” incident went far beyond a simple data entry error, exposing structural flaws in internal controls and ledger management at cryptocurrency exchanges.

Kim warned that the use of assets not actually held by an exchange in internal ledger transactions—and the resulting price volatility and investor confusion—poses serious risks to market sustainability. He urged financial authorities to conduct a swift and rigorous investigation to determine the cause of the incident and assign responsibility, stressing that investor protection and market stability must underpin innovation in the digital asset sector.

Opposition lawmaker Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party also said the incident was “not a simple mishap.” In a Facebook post, she argued that the episode revealed fundamental defects in exchange systems that could undermine price discovery and threaten investor assets.

Na warned that if exchanges operate by moving numbers only on internal ledgers without actual blockchain-based asset transfers, they could effectively sell non-existent coins—potentially triggering bank-run-like scenarios and market collapse. She called for a thorough review of the current regulatory framework and proposed mandatory systems that link trading orders to verifiable asset holdings.

The incident occurred on August 6 when Bithumb mistakenly distributed 2,000 bitcoins per user—rather than KRW 2,000—to 695 customers during a promotional event. The error led to a sharp drop in bitcoin prices on the platform. In response, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to assess the situation and begin inspections.

 

 

[ⓒ 알파경제. 무단전재-재배포 금지]