Bithumb Found 200 Million Dollars in Forgotten Accounts

One of South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb, has made an important announcement. In the statement, it was noted that approximately 200 million dollars worth of crypto assets were found in accounts that have been inactive for years. Bithumb has identified a total of 291.6 billion won worth of dormant assets across 2.6 million accounts through a comprehensive recovery effort. This amount corresponds to approximately 201.8 million dollars at the current exchange rate.

It is particularly noteworthy that some accounts have been inactive for over 10 years and have never executed any transactions. According to information from the exchange, this campaign targets users who have not logged in or conducted any transactions in the past year. Among the reviewed accounts, the one with the highest balance is valued at approximately 2.84 million dollars. The account that has been inactive the longest has not been active for 4,380 days, or nearly 12 years.

The disclosed data clearly reveals traces left by individual investors who entered the crypto market early but gradually disconnected from the markets. According to Bithumb, most of these accounts were opened during the early adoption phase of cryptocurrency, and users never returned. Another striking point is the performance of some forgotten assets; some dormant cryptocurrencies have recorded increases exceeding 61,000 percent. This rate is significantly higher than the long-term return on Bitcoin (BTC), which remained around 11,300 percent during the same period.

Bithumb also added that it will support the account recovery process by sending direct notifications to entitled users. In a previous similar campaign, 36,000 users managed to recover a total of 50 million dollars worth of their assets. Experts warn that such dormant balances could create a potential hidden supply in the market. Even a small portion of these assets being put up for sale could have significant effects on prices, especially in markets with low liquidity. This situation once again highlights that a significant amount of capital from the early days of crypto is still quietly waiting on the exchange's books.