A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange accidentally distributed billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to its customers, while the price of Bitcoin itself hit a 16-month low, according to reports from multiple sources. Bithumb, the exchange in question, mistakenly gave away over 40 billion (32 billion) worth of Bitcoin to its customers, briefly making some of them multi-millionaires, as reported by BBC World. The error occurred when the platform intended to give customers a small cash reward of 2,000 won (1.37), but instead gave them 2,000 Bitcoins on Friday.
The exchange quickly realized its mistake and took action to recover the tokens. Within 35 minutes of the glitch, Bithumb restricted trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected customers. According to the company, they had recovered 99.7% of the 620,000 Bitcoins mistakenly sent. The company stated that the matter had nothing to do with external hacking.
Simultaneously, the price of Bitcoin experienced a significant drop, falling to its lowest level since September 2024, when Donald Trump was in office, as reported by BBC Technology. A single Bitcoin went as low as 60,000 (44,000) before rallying slightly. The drop followed months of surging Bitcoin prices, which saw the cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of 122,200 in October 2025.
"Those who bet too big, borrowed too much or assumed prices only go up are now finding out the hard way what real market volatility and risk management look like," Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association, told Reuters.
In other business news, YouTube's revenue reached over 60 billion (44 billion) in 2025, according to Google, as reported by BBC Business. This figure includes money generated through advertising and paid subscriptions, surpassing streaming rival Netflix's 45 billion revenue. Midia Research senior analyst Hanna Kahlert noted that while it was a big announcement, it was "perhaps not a surprising one" given the platform's widespread use.
Additionally, a US court ordered Uber to pay 8.5 million (6.2 million) to a woman who said she was raped by a driver for the ride-share company, as reported by BBC Business. The federal lawsuit, heard in Arizona, found Uber responsible for the driver's behavior. Uber intends to appeal the verdict.
Finally, emails revealed new details about Prince Andrew's relationship with businessman David Rowland, according to BBC Business. The emails showed Andrew referring to Rowland as his "trusted money man" to Jeffrey Epstein. The emails also suggest Andrew tried to promote Rowland's financial ventures while he was the UK's trade envoy.
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