South Korean exchange Bithumb will repay those impacted after a 100-minute halt in trading, restarting scrutiny of the country’s crypto exchange systems.
Bithumb Pledges Compensation After System Outage Disrupts Trading
4 September 2025 - 09:43 CEST
Seoul Kyungjae, a South Korean daily reported that trading ground to a halt at 14:27 UTC on Tuesday when a system error locked the order book and delayed executions.
Engineers moved quickly into emergency maintenance, but services were not restored until about 16:40 UTC. The company confirmed that the disruption stemmed from internal technical glitches, not an external hack.
Full restitution
“Trading services were down for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes,” the newspaper noted, with Bithumb later promising to “fully compensate users for losses incurred due to the trading suspension.” The exchange said it will review complaints and aims to complete payouts within one month.
While Bithumb is moving to reassure customers, the incident has revived concerns about the reliability of Korea’s major exchanges. Seoul Kyungjae highlighted that from 2018 to 2024, Bithumb suffered 41 outages which is more than any other domestic platform. Rival Upbit logged 28, while GOPAX reported 11.
Systemic risks
Widespread disruptions also plagued platforms when South Korea faced political turmoil in Dec 2024, triggering trading surges that exposed system weaknesses.
One industry official told Seoul Kyungjae that “even a few minutes of trading interruption can result in investors making losses,” urging lawmakers to establish standardized compensation rules.
The lack of uniform guidelines means deadlines and payouts still vary by exchange. For Bithumb, the incident comes at an inopportune time. Media reports that it has planned Nasdaq listing at some point in 2026.
