Halloween comes early as crypto market loses $140 billion after Binance hack

Halloween came one day early for digital asset investors, as the unexpected $6.3 billion hack shook Binance and led to a massive, twelve-figure industry sell-off.

Between 5 p.m. (UTC) on October 29 and 2:30 p.m. (UTC) on October 30, the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped from $2.73 trillion to $2.59 trillion.

The Binance incident was thus accompanied by a nearly 3.5% loss in the industry’s market value, with $147.37 billion wiped out in less than twenty-four hours, citing CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin, Ethereum take the biggest hit in terms of liquidations

Bitcoin (BTC) traders also recorded the largest liquidation volume, with roughly $545 million in positions wiped out, per CoinGlass. Long positions made up 83% of the total, as BTC fell below key psychological price levels to $76,600.

Ethereum (ETH) followed with $368 million in liquidations, with long traders accounting for 84% of the losses. Combined, Bitcoin and Ethereum thus represented more than half of all forced liquidations across the market, which totalled $1.65 billion.

For comparison, XRP recorded $39.66 million in liquidations, although its trading volume doubled. However, the price dropped significantly, falling below the key $1.25 support level.

Crypto liqudations. Source: CoinGlass

Crypto stocks not spared either

Crypto-linked stocks also came under heavy selling pressure. For instance, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) shares dropped 11.5%, while Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) fell 9%. Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) declined 8%.

In other words, a number of crypto stocks recorded steeper declines than, for example, Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies. That is, the market reaction reflects concerns that the reported breach could undermine confidence in cryptocurrency exchanges and related businesses alike. 

Binance promises the funds are safe, but the possibility of further large-scale cyberattacks could add to the pressure on crypto-linked stocks and digital assets, particularly if investors begin moving assets away from centralized exchanges.