South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has reportedly won first-instance rulings in two separate lawsuits against users to recover proceeds from Bitcoin mistakenly credited to their accounts.
According to reports, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Bithumb on Wednesday and Thursday in two out of four ongoing lawsuits. Thursday’s ruling involved a claim for 194 million won, approximately $140,000, while Wednesday’s decision addressed a claim for 5 million won, or about $3,600. Two additional lawsuits seeking about 14.8 million won and 500 million won remain pending. Both cases proceeded through service by public notice because court documents could not be delivered to the defendants through standard methods.
The legal actions follow a February error by Bithumb during a promotional event. On Feb. 6, the exchange intended to distribute 620,000 won in rewards to 249 users, but an employee mistakenly selected Bitcoin as the payment unit instead of Korean won, crediting customer accounts with 620,000 BTC.
Bithumb stated that it subsequently recovered 618,212 BTC, representing 99.7% of the mistakenly credited amount. However, some users sold 1,788 BTC of the credited balances before the exchange could freeze the affected accounts. In March, Bithumb filed four unjust enrichment lawsuits seeking cash proceeds from the sales rather than the Bitcoin itself from users who did not return the funds.
In connection with the February incident, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service investigated Bithumb regarding how the exchange could credit customers with Bitcoin it did not hold. The regulator reportedly sent an inspection opinion in early August to begin sanctions proceedings, though a final penalty has not yet been announced.
Bithumb has also faced other legal and regulatory challenges, including a police raid on its offices in June related to an unrelated investigation into alleged hiring favoritism, and an ongoing legal challenge against a separate six-month partial business suspension over Anti-Money Laundering violations.
