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Cryptocurrency prices fell in the early Saturday trading session, with major cryptocurrencies XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Cardano (ADA) all in red. Traders had reacted to an over $1.5 billion heist of the Bybit exchange, which analysts claim was the biggest crypto theft ever.
Bitcoin and other major tokens have traded in a narrow range in recent weeks, with implied volatility for short-term Bitcoin futures contracts falling to its lowest level since June after an earlier sell-off in February wiped out optimistic bets and sent the market into contraction.
Alex DovbnyaAt the time of writing, XRP was down 3.07% in the last 24 hours, while Dogecoin, Cardano and Shiba Inu had fallen 4.84%, 5.17% and 2.45%, respectively. Bitcoin and Ethereum reported losses of 2.34% and 3.59%, respectively.
This sudden decline has resulted in a wave of liquidations, totaling $556 million across various crypto assets within the last 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data.
The sell-off wiped out long and short positions: Bullish bets accounted for the majority at $321 million, while shorts liquidation reached $234 million in the last 24 hours. The largest single liquidation order happened on Binance — a BTCUSDT trade worth $12.14 million.
What happened?
The crypto sector was jubilant on Friday when Coinbase announced that U.S. securities regulators were about to dismiss a legal lawsuit against the crypto exchange. Crypto prices rose afterward, with Bitcoin nearing $100,000 for the first time since early February.
Tomiwabold OlajideHowever, the cheerful feeling did not last long. Vigilant crypto market analysts shortly after noticed massive, suspicious Ethereum withdrawals from another Dubai-based exchange called Bybit, which is one of the world's largest, with a daily average trading volume of more than $36 billion.
Less than three hours later, halfway around the world, crypto exchange Bybit announced that it had been hacked. Bitcoin and the majority of crypto assets fell thereafter, with shares of Coinbase falling more than 5% after gaining earlier.
Bybit, which is not available in the United States, had about $16.2 billion in assets on its exchange before the attack, according to CoinMarketCap reserves data, with the stolen Ethereum and ETH derivatives accounting for nearly 9% of its total assets.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov