Bithumb Wins Court Rulings in Lawsuits Over Mistaken Bitcoin Credits
Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has secured its first-instance court wins in two lawsuits seeking to recover proceeds from users who sold Bitcoin credited by mistake. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in Bithumb's favor in two of four unjust enrichment cases filed against users, covering claims of 194 million won (about $140,000) and 5 million won (about $3,600). The exchange is seeking to recover proceeds from the sale of Bitcoin that was mistakenly credited to customers' accounts.
The mistake occurred on February 6, 2026, when Bithumb intended to distribute rewards denominated in Korean won. Instead, an employee allegedly selected Bitcoin as the payment unit, crediting customer accounts with 620,000 BTC. The company later recovered most of the mistakenly credited amount, but some users had already sold a portion of the credited balances before Bithumb froze the affected accounts.
Bithumb's approach in the lawsuits is to seek monetary recovery from the sale proceeds rather than compel users to return Bitcoin itself. The exchange has been facing ongoing regulatory scrutiny related to the February error, with South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) investigating how Bithumb could credit customers with Bitcoin it did not hold.