Bithumb bitcoin mishap casts doubt on CEO Lee Jae-won's third term

Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won’s reappointment for a third term, once considered all but certain, has been thrown into doubt following the cryptocurrency exchange’s unprecedented bitcoin misallocation, industry officials said Tuesday. Lee had been widely expected to secure a third consecutive term in March, but the massive mishap, valued at over 60 trillion won ($41 billion), has raised serious concerns about fundamental weaknesses in the exchange’s internal control frameworks and ledger management systems. The incident happened Friday, when the country’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange sought to credit customers participating in a promotional campaign with 2,000 won worth of bitcoin per person. Instead, an employee mistake resulted in each participant receiving 2,000 bitcoins, rather than 2,000 won, pushing the total misallocated amount to 620,000 bitcoins. At the time, bitcoin was trading near 98 million won, valuing the error at about 62 trillion won. According to Bithumb’s third-quarter report last year, the exchange held only about 42,800 bitcoins, meaning the payout exceWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times