Seoul: The chief of local cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb apologized Wednesday for the company's accidental payout of 60 trillion won (US$41.2 billion) in bitcoins, as he vowed to compensate customers who suffered losses due to a sell-off of the tokens.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee Jae-won, the chief executive officer of Bithumb, expressed his apologies during a parliamentary hearing on the incident. "I sincerely apologize to the people who may be deeply distressed by the erroneous payout made during our promotional event as the person who bears the ultimate responsibility," Lee stated. He acknowledged that the company's internal control system failed to detect that more tokens were credited than were available.

Lee further announced plans to compensate customers who incurred losses from a significant drop in bitcoin prices. This includes around 30 individuals who utilized Bithumb's cryptocurrency lending service and faced a forced liquidation of their assets. "We will set a broader scope for victim relief and provide compensation based on various complaints being received through the Financial Supervisory Service and our customer service center," he added.

Previously, Bithumb had corrected most of the erroneous credits, with the exception of 1,788 bitcoins that customers sold within a 40-minute window before the exchange froze the affected accounts. This led to a brief decline in bitcoin prices on the platform. The exchange has assessed that the customers' total damages from the incident amount to approximately 1 billion won.

During the hearing, Kwon Dae-young, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), committed to requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to enhance their internal control systems to align with the standards of other financial institutions, such as banks. Additionally, financial authorities commenced an on-site inspection of four other cryptocurrency exchanges operating in South Korea on Wednesday to evaluate their internal control systems.