Bithumb Wins 2 Lawsuits to Recover Funds From $40B Bitcoin Credit Error

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has reportedly won first-instance rulings in two of four lawsuits against users who sold Bitcoin mistakenly credited to their accounts during a February 2026 promotional error. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in Bithumb's favor on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a Chosun Biz report. Thursday's ruling concerned a claim for 194 million won ($140,000), while Wednesday's covered a claim for 5 million won ($3,600). Two additional lawsuits seeking approximately 14.8 million won ($10,700) and 500 million won ($362,000) remain pending. Both decided cases proceeded through service by public notice after standard document delivery to defendants failed.

The lawsuits stem from an incident on Feb. 6, 2026, when a Bithumb employee mistakenly selected Bitcoin instead of Korean won as the payment unit during a promotional event intended to distribute 620,000 won (about $420) in rewards to 249 users. The error credited customer accounts with 620,000 BTC, valued at more than $40 billion at the time. Bithumb has since recovered 618,212 BTC, or 99.7% of the mistakenly credited amount, but 1,788 BTC had already been sold by users before the exchange froze affected accounts. In March, Bithumb filed four unjust enrichment lawsuits seeking cash proceeds from those sales rather than the Bitcoin itself.

South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has also opened a formal sanctions process against Bithumb over the incident, focusing on how the exchange was able to credit customers with Bitcoin it did not actually hold. The regulator sent Bithumb an inspection opinion in early August, though no final penalty has been announced. Cointelegraph reached out to the Financial Services Commission, which oversees the FSS, but did not receive a response before publication. The legal setbacks add to a turbulent year for Bithumb, which has separately been pushing forward a 2028 IPO timetable while overhauling its internal controls.