Bithumb to Fully Compensate 1 Billion Won in "Erroneous Bitcoin Payment" Losses, Creates 100 Billion Won Protection Fund

"Profit Plus 10%" Compensation for Panic-Selling Customers
CEO Lee Jaewon: "We Will Take Responsibility Until the End"

Virtual asset exchange Bithumb has decided to compensate customers for losses stemming from the recent erroneous Bitcoin payment incident and to create a 100 billion won "Customer Protection Fund" to prepare for similar accidents in the future.

On the 7th, Bithumb CEO Lee Jaewon said in a notice, "We have confirmed cases (panic selling and fire selling) in which trades were executed under unfavorable conditions for customers due to a sharp drop in the Bitcoin price." Bithumb plans to pay customers who suffered losses from panic selling during the Bitcoin price plunge the full amount of their realized selling loss, plus an additional 10% as compensation. Eligible customers are those who sold Bitcoin at a low price between 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. the previous day, the time window of the incident. The compensation will be paid automatically within one week after data verification. In addition, Bithumb will provide 20,000 won in compensation within a week to all customers who were connected to Bithumb’s service during the incident period.

Bithumb has also decided, after a separate notice, to waive trading fees for all listed assets for one week, and to create and operate a 100 billion won "Customer Protection Fund" so that customer assets can be immediately protected in the event of any future incident. Bithumb also presented the following measures: advancement of its asset verification system, enhancement of its multi-approval system, reinforcement of its artificial intelligence (AI) system for detecting and automatically blocking abnormal transactions, and system due diligence by external professional institutions.

CEO Lee said, "I sincerely bow my head in apology. I fully recognize the gravity of my responsibility," and pledged, "We will take responsibility to the end so that customers do not suffer any losses."