They got $44 billion. All because of one wrong sign

It would seem that financial institutions are subject to many security mechanisms to prevent catastrophic mistakes. However, in the world of cryptocurrencies it is not so obvious – and many random people benefited from it in a recent incident on one of the crypto exchanges.

One small mistake – like a fly entering the typewriter in Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” – caused a huge problem. It cost the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange as much as $44 billion. What happened? There was an error in assigning currency codes where “$” (dollar sign) was read as “B” (Bitcoin sign).

The fatal mistake occurred – interestingly – not as a result of a hacker attack, but during a promotional campaign of the Bithumb exchange. It was supposed to send users small gifts in various amounts, but usually 2,000 won (US$1.40). However, instead, many of them received not 2,000 won, but 2,000 bitcoins. In this way, approximately 620,000 were distributed. $44 billion worth of bitcoins among 695 users.

Fortunately, Bithumb quickly realized what a big mistake it had made and within 35 minutes blocked the possibility of buying/selling and withdrawing funds. Almost no one got rich because of it. Almost – because 99.7% of these bitcoins were recovered, so a small percentage of users benefited from it.

Bithumb assures that there was no hack and that the systems themselves remained intact. The company emphasizes that it was not a technological error, but a human error – and that customers’ funds were safe. However, the incident showed how easily in the crypto world a simple “procedural slip-up” can turn into a national-scale disaster.