Korea's CEX mistakenly sent $43 billion worth of Bitcoin, and financial regulators are investigating domestic digital asset platforms.

South Korea’s financial regulatory authorities have launched a comprehensive investigation into a domestic digital asset platform. The incident originated when, during a promotional event, the platform mistakenly “sent” approximately 620,000 Bitcoin to user accounts due to operational errors, valued at about $43 billion at the time. The Financial Supervisory Service has upgraded the routine check to a special investigation, stating that it will strictly pursue any actions that disrupt market order.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the incident was caused by an employee mistakenly entering the reward amount as Bitcoin instead of Korean won, resulting in the system generating an asset balance far exceeding the platform’s actual reserves. Regulators are currently focusing on how the platform distributed and settled the non-existent Bitcoin within its internal ledger.

After the incident, the platform claimed to have recovered 99.7% of the incorrectly allocated assets and retrieved most of the Bitcoin sold by users, with only a small amount remaining unrecovered. The event caused the Bitcoin/KRW trading price on the platform to drop by approximately 15%. The platform pledged to compensate affected users with 110% of their losses, announced the establishment of a 100 billion KRW user protection fund, and committed to strengthening risk control and internal audit mechanisms.

However, external skepticism remains. Local media pointed out that the incident exposed the platform’s ability to “create” large balances directly within its internal ledger without actual on-chain settlement. More concerning is that the platform’s actual Bitcoin holdings at the time were only a small fraction of the mistakenly sent amount, raising discussions about potential run risks.

Several South Korean politicians publicly stated that this was not merely a technical error but reflected structural flaws in the industry’s ledger management and risk control. Both the ruling and opposition parties indicated they would use this incident as an opportunity to push for stricter regulations and discuss holding platforms accountable under laws similar to those applied to traditional financial institutions.

Against the backdrop of South Korea accelerating the implementation of the Basic Digital Asset Act, this incident is seen as a significant warning. Analysts believe it could reshape public perceptions of the security of the crypto industry and accelerate the country’s efforts toward compliance and prudent regulation of digital asset platforms.