A technical glitch at Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif allowed customers to buy currencies, including bitcoin, free, though in the end nobody was able to profit by doing so.
The exchange was hit by the problem for about 20 minutes on 16 February. Zaif is a government-registered exchange run by the Tech Bureau Corporation based in Osaka.
A Reuters report said the exchange nullified the error after it was discovered. However it was still trying to resolve issues with one customer who tried to transfer the bitcoins he bought at the knock-down price.
According to the Asahi Shimbun, the customer in question purchased 2200 trillion yen (about US$20 trillion) of bitcoin and attempted to cash out immediately. The entire market cap of bitcoin is about US$183 billion.
{loadposition sam08}The Tech Bureau Corporation lost US$350 million in January via a theft from Coincheck Inc.
Zaif is one of the 16 cryptocurrency exchanges registered with the Japanese Government. Anther 16, including Coincheck, have been allowed to operate in Japan, pending registration.
All the exchanges that are registered will make up a self-regulatory body and draft rules on exchange security and advertising among other things.
Bitcoin prices went up more than 1300% last year but fell last month. They have now rebounded.