South Korean lawmakers are ramping up pressure on financial regulators after a 
system failure at Bithumb, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, led 
to the accidental distribution of more than $43 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) 
earlier this month. The February 6 incident has triggered political scrutiny 
of both the exchange itself and the agencies responsible for overseeing the 
virtual asset market. Behind The Bithumb Massive Bitcoin Mishap According to 
local reporting by The Korea Times, members of the National Assembly are 
questioning how such a massive error could slip through despite repeated 
regulatory inspections. Rep. Kang Min-guk of the main opposition People Power 
Party disclosed that the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) 
reviewed Bithumb three times between 2022 and 2025. Over the same period, the 
Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) conducted three separate inspections. Yet 
regulators failed to detect what has now been described as a critical 
structural weakness in the exchange’s system. Related Reading: ‘Sell Bitcoin 
Now,’ Peter Schiff Warns, Predicts $20,000 Target On Breakdown Kang argued 
that existing oversight mechanisms were inadequate. He pointed out that 
safeguards were insufficient to prevent a situation in which a single employee 
could initiate massive coin transfers. Kang said: The episode is not merely a 
technical mishap but a case that lays bare deeper structural weaknesses in the 
virtual asset market, including complacent supervision and gaps in regulation. 
Instead of crediting users with Bitcoin worth 2,000 won — approximately $1.38 
— the system mistakenly credited 2,000 Bitcoin per user. In total, 620,000 
Bitcoin were incorrectly distributed. Rep. Han Chang-min of the minor Social 
Democratic Party also criticized regulators, questioning whether supervisory 
authorities had meaningfully evaluated the exchange’s internal systems. 
“Authorities appeared to be shifting responsibility onto Bithumb despite their 
supervisory role,” Han said. Broader Crypto Oversight In response to the 
incident, the FSS extended the deadline for its formal investigation from Feb. 
13 to the end of the month, citing the need for additional time. An eight- 
member inspection team is now intensifying its review, focusing on possible 
violations related to investor protection and anti-money laundering (AML) 
compliance. Particular attention is being given to the system architecture 
that allowed coins not actually held by the exchange to be credited to users. 
Regulators have not ruled out the possibility that further erroneous 
distributions could be uncovered. Related Reading: House Democrats Urge 
Treasury Probe Into Trump Family’s Crypto Venture Separately, financial 
authorities have reportedly formed an emergency response team in coordination 
with the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), a self-regulatory body 
representing domestic exchanges. The team has begun inspections of asset 
verification and internal control systems at four other platforms — Upbit, 
Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX. Any deficiencies are expected to be incorporated 
into DAXA’s self-regulatory guidelines and could influence the next phase of 
cryptocurrency legislation in South Korea. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was 
trading at $67,763, marking a 2% decline over the past seven days and showing 
minimal change since Thursday&#8217;s trading session. Featured image from OpenArt, 
chart from TradingView.com

Bithumb $43 Billion Bitcoin Blunder Triggers Political Backlash In South Korea

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams highlighted a case where a victim lost a “mid- 
six-figure” portfolio to a fake top search result posing as Uniswap.

Uniswap founder slams scam crypto ads after victim ‘lost everything’

Buterin&#8217;s initiative could enhance Ethereum&#8217;s resilience and security, 
potentially reshaping its ecosystem and addressing fragmentation issues.
The post Vitalik Buterin plans bolt-on cypherpunk layer to upgrade existing 
Ethereum appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Vitalik Buterin plans bolt-on cypherpunk layer to upgrade existing Ethereum

Data shows the Bitcoin Fear &amp; Greed Index continues to be inside the extreme 
fear zone as the cryptocurrency market continues to struggle. Bitcoin Fear &amp; 
Greed Index Is Still Pointing At &#8216;Extreme Fear&#8217; The &#8220;Fear &amp; Greed Index&#8221; 
refers to an indicator created by Alternative that tells us about the average 
sentiment present among traders in the Bitcoin and wider cryptocurrency 
markets. The index uses the data of the following five factors to determine 
the market mentality: trading volume, market cap dominance, volatility, social 
media sentiment, and Google Trends. Related Reading: Bitcoin Big-Money Exits: 
Large-Holder Supply Hits Lowest Since May 2025 When the value of the metric is 
greater than 53, it means the sentiment shared by the majority of the 
investors is that of greed. On the other hand, the indicator being under 47 
suggests the investors are fearful. Naturally, values lying between the two 
thresholds indicate the presence of a net neutral mentality. Besides these 
three main zones, there are also two &#8216;extreme&#8217; areas called the extreme fear 
(25 and under) and extreme greed (above 75). Recently, the market has been 
inside the former of the two. Here is how the latest value of the Bitcoin Fear 
&amp; Greed Index looks: As is visible above, the Bitcoin Fear &amp; Greed Index has a 
value of 7, which is pretty deep into the extreme fear zone. In fact, this 
level of despair is something that the traders have rarely held historically. 
The Fear &amp; Greed Index has consistently been at similarly low levels during 
the last couple of weeks, as the below chart shows. Overall, the indicator has 
been stuck inside the extreme fear territory for 22 straight days now. The 
recent bad market sentiment is a result of the drawdown that the Bitcoin price 
has faced. In the past, cryptocurrency markets have often tended to move in 
the direction that goes contrary to the expectations of the majority. The 
probability of a contrarian move occurring has generally been the strongest in 
the extreme sentiment zones as that&#8217;s where the crowd is the most sure about 
the market&#8217;s outcome. Given this, the recent extreme fear mentality could help 
the sector bottom out. The lowest that the metric has gone this cycle is 5, 
which is similar to the lowest point of the previous bear market. In that bear 
market, however, the market consolidated and spent more time inside the 
extreme fear zone even after the low in the Fear &amp; Greed Index, before a 
bottom was eventually reached. Related Reading: XRP Social Sentiment Hits 
5-Week High—BTC, ETH Mood Still Off It now remains to be seen how long Bitcoin 
and others will take to hit a cyclical low this time around. BTC Price Bitcoin 
has been unable to make much recovery since its bounce from the $60,000 level 
as its price continues to trade around $67,700. Featured image from Dall-E, 
chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin Extreme Fear Streak Extends To 22 Days As Price Struggles

The government of El Salvador defended its continuous bitcoin purchases before 
critics, even as the market is currently experiencing a downturn. Vice- 
President Felix Ulloa stated that bitcoin was part of a reserve strategy and 
that the country is preparing for a world where fiat currencies will 
disappear. El Salvador States Bitcoin Is Not a Stock […]

Cryptocurrency price in SAR