**Crypto Firm's Billion-Dollar Blunder: €33.8 Billion in Bitcoin Sent to Users by Mistake**

In a shocking display of digital chaos, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has apologized for mistakenly sending an astonishing €33.8 billion worth of bitcoin to its users.

The error, which occurred on Friday, saw 620,000 bitcoins sent to the accounts of 695 affected users, sparking a brief selloff on the platform and causing "sharp volatility" in bitcoin prices. Bithumb's charts show that the token's value briefly plummeted by 17% to 81.1 million USD won on the platform.

According to reports, the exchange was meant to send a promotional gift of approximately 2,000 won (€1.16) to each customer as part of a marketing event. However, in a shocking display of human error, the system mistakenly transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user – an amount worth over €33.8 billion.

In a statement released on Saturday, Bithumb acknowledged the mistake and apologized for the inconvenience caused to its customers. "We sincerely apologize for the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event," the exchange said.

Bithumb has since blocked trading and withdrawals for the affected users and claims to have recovered 99.7% of the mistakenly sent bitcoins. The platform also assured investors that it would use its own assets to fully cover the remaining amount lost in the incident, stating that the error was "unrelated to external hacking or security breaches."

The mistake comes as a blow to bitcoin's struggling market, which has seen prices sink this week following US President Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November 2024. The loss of investor confidence has wiped out gains sparked by Trump's earlier victory.

While the incident has caused significant disruption to Bithumb's operations, it remains unclear what led to the massive error. As the crypto market continues to grapple with volatility and security concerns, this blunder serves as a stark reminder of the risks involved in trading digital assets.