Bitcoin’s price on Bithumb, one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges, suddenly dropped 10% below global market prices today, after an exchange employee accidentally distributed 2,000 BTC to hundreds of users during an airdrop, according to Dumpster DAO core member Definalist.
It looks like hundreds of users got that accidental 2,000 BTC. It’s a total comedy of errors—apparently, a staff member meant to give out 2,000 KRW as a random box prize but typed BTC instead. Crazy to think that exchanges can still do paper trading like this, even in 2026
lmao https://t.co/RGwXzbUBDN pic.twitter.com/fEnfxAWhJO— Definalist (@definalist) February 6, 2026
According to the analyst, a staff member tried to distribute 2,000 Korean won (KRW) worth less than $2 as a random box prize but entered BTC by mistake.
Recipients of the erroneous Bitcoin deposits quickly sold the assets at market price, triggering immediate downward pressure on Bithumb’s BTC trading pairs relative to other exchanges.
Bitcoin’s price on Bithumb has rebounded to above $66,000 (KRW 98 million), up from a low of around $56,000 (KRW 82 million).
Bithumb confirmed in a statement that an internal payment error during a promotional event caused brief Bitcoin price volatility when some customers sold their holdings.
The exchange said it quickly detected the issue, restricted affected accounts, and stabilized the market within five minutes, with no losses to customer assets.
[11:33 AM ET, Feb 6, 2026]: This article has been updated to include Bithumb’s statement addressing the incident.
