(March 19): Crypto exchange BitMEX is investigating unusual trading activity that led to a flash crash in Bitcoin on its platform on Monday.
The price of Bitcoin against Tether’s USDT stablecoin fell to as low as US$8,900 on BitMEX late on Monday, while the largest cryptocurrency was trading above US$66,000 on rival venues. The price of Bitcoin on the exchange quickly recovered and was trading at US$64,284 as of 4:10pm Singapore time.
A spokesperson for BitMEX said the company investigated the incident and found evidence of “aggressive selling behaviour 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 US$66 million. BitMEX’s spokesperson declined to comment further on 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 (exchange-traded funds) 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 US$63,140 on Tuesday, after the US$25 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, posted a US$643 million outflow — its highest since it converted into an ETF on Jan 11.
