Crypto firm accidentally sends $44 billion in bitcoins to users

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb ‍said on Saturday it had accidentally given away more ⁠than $40 billion worth of bitcoins to customers as promotional rewards, triggering a sharp selloff on the exchange.

Bithumb ‌apologised for ‌the mistake, which took place on Friday, and said ‌it had recovered 99.7% of the 620,000 bitcoins, worth about $44 billion at current prices. It had restricted trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected ​customers within 35 minutes of ​the erroneous distribution on Friday.

The exchange had ‌planned ‍to distribute small cash rewards of ‍2,000 Korean won ($1.37) or more to each ‌user as part of a promotional event, but winners received at least 2,000 bitcoins each instead, media reports said.