BlockBeats News, March 22, according to The Korea Times, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, despite facing a series of controversies and regulatory penalties, continues to push for the reappointment of current CEO Lee Jae-won. On February 6, 2026, during a promotional event, Bithumb experienced a serious operational error that resulted in mistakenly sending users about 15 times the actual amount of Bitcoin held by the exchange, totaling approximately 620,000 BTC, exposing significant flaws in Bithumb’s internal validation, asset management, and ledger systems. The error was discovered and contained within 35 minutes, with the exchange freezing trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected accounts, claiming to have recovered 99.7% of the misallocated assets. However, the incident still caused momentary market panic.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the South Korea Financial Services Commission imposed multiple penalties on Bithumb, including a partial business suspension for 6 months, a 36.8 billion Korean won (approximately $24 million) anti-money laundering violation fine, a warning to CEO Lee Jae-won, and a 6-month suspension for the compliance officer.
Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won’s term is set to end this month, with the company planning to hold its regular shareholders’ meeting on March 31 to deliberate on a proposal to extend his term by another two years. Despite the significant failure and regulatory pressure, Bithumb has chosen to pursue reappointment to maintain operational continuity and stability rather than undergo a management reshuffle. In similar previous cases, such as the CEO of Upbit transitioning to an advisory role after receiving an FIU warning, management often faces greater accountability.
