This is reported by Business • Media
On February 6, 2026, a sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin was recorded on the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb — the price temporarily fell over 10% below levels on other leading trading platforms. The anomaly arose amid rumors of an erroneous distribution of a large volume of BTC among users.
Causes of the Price Anomaly and Expert Reactions
The analytical platform Lookonchain reported that due to a probable technical error by Bithumb employees, exchange clients received about 2000 bitcoins instead of the intended reward in Korean won. Social media discussions indicated that some users, upon receiving the unexpected “airdrop,” immediately sold the assets, which triggered the sudden price collapse on the exchange.
“Bitcoin on #Bithumb suddenly dropped, trading 10% lower than other markets. Reports say a staff mistake during an airdrop sent 2,000 $BTC ($133M) instead of a small KRW reward. Some users sold them immediately, causing a rapid price decline.”
Experts note that for a liquid asset like Bitcoin, such a price discrepancy is atypical. Similar phenomena occur more frequently due to local liquidity issues, operational failures, or sudden changes in demand.
Bithumb Officially Did Not Confirm the Incident
As of the time of publication, Bithumb had not provided official comments regarding the incident, did not explain the reasons for the price drop, and did not confirm whether there was indeed an erroneous allocation of BTC instead of KRW. It is only known that, according to unconfirmed information, the distribution may have affected hundreds of users, and the rapid sale of the received coins further intensified the pressure on the market price.
Bithumb is considered one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. The company has previously faced criticism regarding the reliability of its operational processes and risk management.
It is worth noting that a recent drop in the price of Bitcoin to $60,000 led to liquidations totaling $2.6 billion.