South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has obtained favorable first-instance rulings in two of four civil lawsuits filed against users who sold Bitcoin that was erroneously credited to their accounts. The Seoul Central District Court issued the decisions on consecutive days this week, supporting the exchange’s claims of unjust enrichment.

One ruling, delivered on Thursday, ordered repayment of approximately 194 million won, equivalent to about $140,000. The other, issued on Wednesday, concerned a claim of 5 million won, or roughly $3,600. Two further cases seeking about 14.8 million won and 500 million won remain pending. Combined claims across the four actions total roughly 714 million won.

Both decided cases advanced through service by public notice after ordinary delivery of court documents to the defendants proved unsuccessful.

Origins of the February Crediting Error

The disputes stem from a promotional event held on February 6, 2026. Bithumb intended to distribute a total of 620,000 won, then worth around $420, in rewards to 249 users. An employee selected Bitcoin rather than Korean won as the payment unit, causing the exchange’s internal ledger to credit accounts with 620,000 BTC. At prevailing prices the paper value exceeded $40 billion.

The credits existed primarily on Bithumb’s internal systems and far surpassed the exchange’s actual Bitcoin holdings. No equivalent quantity moved across the Bitcoin blockchain. The company identified the mistake within about 20 minutes and began restricting trading and withdrawals 15 minutes later. Restrictions covering 695 customers were completed within 35 minutes.

Before the freeze took full effect, some recipients sold a portion of the credited balances. Those sales totaled 1,788 BTC and briefly drove Bithumb’s BTC/KRW price approximately 17 percent below the broader market.

Recovery Efforts and Legal Strategy

Bithumb subsequently reported recovering 618,212 BTC, or 99.7 percent of the mistakenly credited amount, through account reversals and voluntary returns. By early March it informed South Korea’s National Assembly that 99 percent of the 1,788 BTC sold or left unrecovered in the initial response window had also been retrieved.

In March the exchange filed four separate unjust enrichment lawsuits against users who had sold the credited Bitcoin and declined to return the resulting cash proceeds. The actions sought monetary recovery rather than return of the digital assets themselves. The Thursday decision, issued by Judge Kim Yu-seong of the court’s 90th Civil Division, marked the first publicly reported first-instance judgment among the four cases. The ruling may be appealed.

Regulatory Scrutiny Continues

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service investigated the February incident, examining how the exchange credited customers with Bitcoin it did not hold. In early August the regulator sent Bithumb an inspection opinion, formally initiating sanctions proceedings. No final penalty has been announced.

Earlier in the year the Financial Services Commission directed exchanges to implement automated balance reconciliation at five-minute intervals, separate accounts, automatic validity checks, third-party verification, and multiple approvals for high-risk manual payments.

Bithumb has faced additional legal matters unrelated to the crediting error. South Korean police raided its offices in June as part of an investigation into alleged hiring favoritism involving a lawmaker. The company is also challenging a six-month partial business suspension linked to anti-money-laundering violations; a Seoul court stayed that order in the spring pending resolution of the challenge.

Further developments will depend on any appeals of the recent rulings, outcomes in the two remaining recovery cases, and the conclusion of the regulatory review process.