Bithumb wins mistaken Bitcoin suits; exchange liability precedent set

Bithumb, South Korea's largest crypto exchange by volume, won two first-instance court rulings against users who sold Bitcoin that was erroneously credited to their accounts. The cases stem from a $40 billion crediting error. The courts held that the users were liable to return the proceeds from those sales. These are first-instance rulings, meaning appeals remain possible, but the decisions establish an initial judicial position on exchange liability for operational errors.

Korean courts have now signaled that an erroneous credit from an exchange does not transfer ownership to the recipient. Selling or converting those funds does not extinguish the exchange's claim. The user is treated as having received something they had no right to keep, and the proceeds are recoverable.