Business
Crypto firm accidentally sends $40bn in bitcoin to users
A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange apologised on Saturday after mistakenly transferring more than $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, which briefly prompted a selloff on the platform.
Bithumb said it accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than $40bn, and blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes after the error occurred on Friday.
According to local reports, Bithumb was meant to send about 2,000 South Korean won ($1.37) to each customer as part of a promotion, but mistakenly transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event,” Bithumb said in a statement.
The platform said it had recovered 99.7 per cent of the mistakenly sent bitcoins, and that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident.
It admitted the error briefly caused “sharp volatility” in bitcoin prices on the platform as some recipients sold the tokens, adding that it brought the situation under control within five minutes.
Its charts showed the token’s prices briefly went down 17pc to 81.1 million won on the platform late Friday.
In a separate statement released later on Saturday, Bithumb said some trades were executed at unfavourable prices for users due to a price drop during the incident on Friday, including “panic selling”.
The platform said it would compensate affected customers, covering the full price difference as well as a 10pc bonus.
It estimated losses at about 1bn won.
The platform earlier stressed that the incident was “unrelated to external hacking or security breaches”.
Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by US President Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November 2024.
ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Imtiaz Haider as the fifth commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), completing the regulator’s minimum strength.
Mr Haider previously served as SECP commissioner from 2011 to 2014 and was managing director and CEO of Islamabad Stock Exchange.
The appointment will enable the SECP to establish appellate benches.
Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s services exports rose 16.51 per cent in the first half of (July to December) 2025-26 compared with the same period last year, largely on the back of higher proceeds from the information technology sector.
The performance stands in contrast to commodity exports, which have shown uneven movement, as the services sector has posted uninterrupted growth since the beginning of the current fiscal year.
The export of services reached $4.764 billion in 1HFY26, up from $4.089bn over the corresponding period last year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The monthly trends showed that services exports rose by 18.27pc year-on-year in July, followed by increases of 8.41pc in August, 14.85pc in September, 17.61pc in October, 22.26pc in November, and 15.94pc in December. The growth in the export of services is mainly led by telecommunications, computer, and information services.
IT sector drives 16.51pc rise in July-Dec FY26
In rupee terms, exports improved by 18.04pc to Rs1.342tr in 1HFY26, up from Rs1.137tr in FY25. This clearly indicates that export of services is steadily on the rise in the current fiscal year. In December, exports of services reached $935.16m, up from $806.61m in the corresponding month of last year, indicating a growth of 15.94pc. On a month-on-month basis, exports of services grew by 15.84pc.
In FY25, Pakistan’s export of services recorded a growth of 9.23 per cent to $8.39 billion from $7.68bn over the corresponding months of last year. Services exports have grown since February 2024, mainly due to a surge in information technology and other business exports. However, there was a 6.50pc decline in August 2024.
According to data compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan, exports of Telecommunications, Computer, and Information Services reached $2.236 billion in July-December FY26, up from $1.866bn in the corresponding months of last year, indicating a growth of 19.82pc.
The export of other business services recorded growth of 24.87pc to $1.014bn in 1HFY26, compared with $812m over the corresponding months of last year. The export of transport services increased by 0.44pc to $462m in FY26 as against $460m over the last year.
However, the export of travel services grew 19.49pc to $429m during 1HFY26, compared with $359m over the last year. At the same time, the import of services surged by 15.75pc to $6.504bn in 6MFY26 as against $5.619bn over the corresponding months of last year. On a month-on-month basis, the import of services increased by 34.39pc.
Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026
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