Bank of Korea floats crypto ‘circuit breakers’ after Bithumb blunder

Bithumb accidentally sent customers 620,000 Bitcoin instead of 620,000 Korean won in February. The Bank of Korea wants lawmakers to make it so it doesn't happen again.

South Korea’s central bank says crypto exchanges should have their own “circuit breakers” that halt trading to prevent a repeat of the market fallout after Bithumb mistakenly sent more than $40 billion in Bitcoin to its customers in February.

The Bank of Korea said in a payments report on Monday that lawmakers should consider introducing mechanisms similar to the Korea Exchange’s trading curbs to suspend trading if crypto prices suddenly fluctuate.

“Currently, the virtual asset industry lacks internal control mechanisms and faces lower regulatory intensity compared to established financial institutions,” the bank said.

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