Lee Jae-won, the CEO of Korea’s Bithumb, apologized to those affected by the 62 trillion won Bitcoin Ojidok incident and said relief would be expanded through prosecutions and civil complaints coordinated with financial authorities. It was also confirmed that two additional Bitcoin Ojidok incidents occurred previously, heightening industry scrutiny as regulators launched emergency on-site inspections of Korea’s five major virtual-asset exchanges. “I apologize as the final person in charge of the accident to the people who would have been heartbroken by the accident,” Lee said during questions at the National Assembly’s political affairs committee on the 11th. “We are deeply aware of the shortage in terms of internal control to detect and respond to the increase in the number on the ledger while the coin is being paid,” he added.
Regarding the scale of damage and the relief, he said relief would address two aspects: panic sales tied to the sale of 1,788 Bitcoin and the forced liquidation that affected about 30 people. We will set up and complete a broader range of victim relief through various complaints received by the Financial Supervisory Service, prosecutors, and customer centers. Lee acknowledged that the payment mistake stemmed from a deputy and that the internal-control system requires strengthening, with plans to discuss technology to shorten the period of reconciliation between internal books and actual coin holdings.
The company will implement a broader victim-relief framework, including a 100 billion won customer-protection fund and compensation at 110% of losses. Regulators expanded investigations beyond Bithumb to other exchanges, with on-site checks underway at Upbit, Coinone, Cobbit, and Gopax, led by a joint regulatory body with DAXA. Authorities are scrutinizing the effectiveness of the abnormal-transaction-detection system and AML compliance, while reviewing past incidents, including the 6th’s 620,000-won payout to 249 people that led to the erroneous payment of 620,000 Bitcoin. Bithumb has recovered the majority of funds—618,212 coins (99.7%)—but 125 coins (worth about 12.3 billion won) sold on other exchanges could not be recovered, and the firm has allocated holdings to compensate affected customers and bolster a 100 billion won customer-protection fund.
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