$20 Trillion in Bitcoin Sold for Free at Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange

On Friday, February 16, a glitch at the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif occurred, and on February 20, it was announced via the company’s website. A system failure enabled some people, including one who obtained $20 trillion worth of Bitcoin, to buy digital currency for literally nothing.

According to Zaif, which is managed by Tech Bureau Corp, and has official government registration, an accident happened to the price calculation system. It created for seven users the possibility to get some free virtual coins.

Zaif representatives told the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun that the glitch was present for 18 minutes. Seven traders had taken advantage of this system failure, however, six wrong transactions were soon invalidated. Zaif is seeking to correct the situation with the seventh user who tried to grab $20 trillion worth and cash them out. It is a huge amount of money, taking into account that the total Bitcoin market cap is around $183 billion, according to CoinMarketcap.

Tech Bureau, which holds the crypto trading platform Zaif, made an official statement, apologizing to customers for the trouble and promising to take measures to prevent further glitches.  Nevertheless, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is now investigating the security of this company and its other practices.