Exchange investigates flash crash that sent bitcoin to $8,900
The price of Bitcoin against Tether’s USDT stablecoin fell to as low as $8,900 on BitMEX late Monday, while the largest cryptocurrency was trading above $66,000 on rival venues. The price of Bitcoin on the exchange quickly recovered and was tradin...
By Bloomberg |
Reuters
T
Crypto exchange BitMEX is investigating unusual trading activity that led to a flash crash in Bitcoin on its platform yesterday.
The price of Bitcoin against Tether’s USDT stablecoin fell to as low as $8,900 on BitMEX late Monday, while the largest cryptocurrency was trading above $66,000 on rival venues. The price of Bitcoin on the exchange quickly recovered and was trading at $64,284 as of 4:10 p.m Singapore time.
A spokesperson for BitMEX said the company investigated the incident and found evidence of “aggressive selling behavior involving a very small number of accounts that exceeded expected market ranges,” adding that its systems had operated normally and all user funds are safe.
An X account named @syq, which first posted about the sudden selloff, suggested the flash crash coincided with the sale of 977 Bitcoin worth roughly $66 million. BitMEX’s spokesperson declined to comment further on the details of the incident.
Bitcoin has fallen around 14% from record highs set earlier this month, after a period of rampant demand driven by a crop of spot ETFs launched in the US on Jan. 11. The token is still up almost 50% in 2024.
Bitcoin shed as much as 6.3% to trade at $63,140 on Tuesday after the $25 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, posted a $643 million outflow, its highest since it converted into an ETF on Jan. 11.
