A sudden price gap on one of South Korea's biggest crypto venues set off fresh speculation on Feb. 6 as traders tried to explain why Bitcoin briefly traded far below the wider market.
The move looked like a localized shock rather than a broad selloff, but it landed in the middle of a bruising week for digital assets.
Related: Trump's crypto policy has astounding reach in South Korea
Exchange error reportedly credited users with Bitcoin
Market watchers and local media reports said the disruption followed an operational mistake tied to an exchange reward or event payout, with some accounts allegedly credited with Bitcoin instead of a smaller won-denominated reward.
The exchange at the center of the incident, Bithumb, is one of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, regularly ranking among the country's top venues by won-denominated volume.
Blockchain analytics account Lookonchain wrote that
"Reports say a staff mistake during an airdrop sent 2,000 $BTC($133M) instead of a small KRW reward," adding that "some users sold it right away, causing the price to drop fast."
Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported that "2000 Bitcoin (BTC) was recently deposited in the wallets of some users," describing the incident as a possible "fat finger" input mistake during compensation payments. They added that large withdrawals were constrained by the exchange's available reserves.
Bithumb did not publicly confirm the reported crediting error or say whether any trades would be reversed.
TheStreet Roundtable has reached out to the exchange for comment and has not received a response as of publication.
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Bitcoin price briefly diverges on one exchange
The selling pressure appeared concentrated on Bithumb's won market.
Maeil reported that Bitcoin briefly fell to about 81.5 million won (approx. $55,619), a drop of more than 17% in minutes, describing a flash-crash pattern on the exchange's chart.
Outside that venue, Bitcoin prices were volatile but did not show the same one-exchange dislocation, with the broader market trading in the mid $60,000 range during the period.
Crypto markets already under pressure
The incident came as crypto markets were already sliding with risk appetite weakening across global markets.
Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since October 2024, trading in the mid-$60,000 range after extending weekly losses.
The selloff unfolded alongside heavy deleveraging.
Data tracked by CoinGlass showed about $1.7 billion in Bitcoin positions liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total crypto liquidations reaching roughly $2.28 billion.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at around $66,600, down 18.0% on the week.
Related: 136-year-old investment firm predicts next Bitcoin crash
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
