Bithumb activates company-wide crisis management system… sets up dedicated 'Investor Loss Relief Task Force'

Bithumb said on the 7th that, in response to a recent Bitcoin (BTC) mispayment incident, it will activate a company-wide crisis management system and establish a dedicated organization to provide relief for investor losses.

Bithumb plans to launch a management-led “company-wide crisis management system” to prevent a recurrence of an incident like this mispayment. With the executive team at the center, all business divisions will work together to contain and resolve the incident, while beginning improvements to internal controls aimed at strengthening customer asset protection and trading stability.

To that end, it will set up an “Investor Loss Relief Task Force” to manage affected cases and proceed with expedited compensation procedures. It will also convene an extraordinary board meeting to share updates on the incident’s progress and response measures, and to deliberate and implement follow-up actions, including steps to prevent a recurrence.

The company will also push broad improvements across its systems and internal processes. It will strengthen cross-checking procedures between customer assets and company assets in payout processes tied to events or policies, and mandate a multi-approval process of at least two steps for asset transfers and reward payouts. An abnormal trading detection and automatic blocking system that immediately halts suspicious transactions will also be operated 24/7. In addition, Bithumb plans to conduct external system diagnostics through a global security specialist and disclose the results.

Bithumb said it will take full responsibility for losses incurred by customers as a result of the incident. While no direct loss of customer assets has been confirmed so far, cases were identified in which some trades executed during the incident window were filled at unfavorable prices amid a sharp drop in market prices.

Accordingly, customers who sold at low prices due to the incident will be compensated for the full difference in sale proceeds, plus an additional 10%. All customers who accessed the exchange during the relevant time period will receive compensation worth 20,000 won, and a 0% trading fee benefit will also be applied for one week.

Separately, to prepare for similar incidents in the future, Bithumb plans to establish and operate a customer protection fund of 100 billion won.

Lee Jae-won, CEO of Bithumb, said, “I am deeply aware of the heavy responsibility for this incident,” adding, “We will make restoring customer trust our top priority and build a safer trading environment.”