The cryptocurrency market has been shaken seismic sale Over the past 24 hours, the value of the two largest digital assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), has fallen by more than 20%. At the epicenter of the chaos is one of the industry’s biggest names – Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain. On-chain data suggests that Sun may have exploited the pullback to scoop up millions of dollars worth of Ethereum at depressed prices.
Market crisis wipes out $600 billion
According to Fortune reportThis market turmoil came against the backdrop of a broad-based stock market sell-off sparked by a disappointing jobs report and perceived inaction by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
Despite recent positive developments in the cryptocurrency sector, such as the launch of Ethereum ETFs In July, digital assets mirrored the stock market decline in the U.S. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell from more than $2.5 trillion on July 28 to about $1.9 trillion on Monday, marking its biggest loss of 2022.
Cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute described the cryptocurrency drop at Fortune as “unexpected” and attributed it to the U.S. jobs report. The firm reported liquidations exceeding $1 billion in digital assets positions overnight, and the altcoin market capitalization dropped by $57 billion.
Of note was the sell-off in shares of Jump Trading, a Chicago-based trading firm that played a prominent role in the cryptocurrency industry before it scaled back its operations amid meltdowns and regulatory scrutiny.
Data in the chain Spot On Chain data indicates that Jump moved $47 million worth of Ethereum to centralized exchanges (CEXs), though Wintermute cautioned against oversimplifying the market movements and attributing them solely to Jump’s actions.
Sun’s Ethereum Buying Frenzy
Amidst this market turmoil, attention has focused on Justin Sun, the founder of the TRON blockchain. Reports came out a suspicious address linked to Sun’s purchase of 16,236 ETH for $37 million USDT stablecoin, while ETH fell to $2,112 on Monday and the average purchase price was $2,279.
The address created three hours earlier was allegedly used to withdraw 38 million USDT from the HTX exchange before the takeover ETH TokensIt is further claimed that the address belongs to Sun as its behavior was similar to previous ETH purchases made by him.
Interestingly, the sun supposedly holds over 700,000 ETH, and the latest data indicates a significant loss of around $280 million as Ethereum’s value fell by 20%. From February 8, 2024, Sun. allegedly accumulated 377,590 ETH across three wallets, costing him approximately $1.15 billion.
Despite Ethereum trading well below its average purchase price of $3,051, Sun denied liquidation rumors. social media post, Sun stated:
Rumors of our positions being liquidated are false. We rarely engage in leveraged trading strategies as we believe such trades do not significantly benefit the industry. Instead, we prefer to engage in activities that provide more support to the industry and traders, such as staking, running nodes, working on projects, and helping project teams provide liquidity.
At the time of writing, ETH managed to rebound to $2,460, with a 346% boost in trading volume in the last 24 hours, which according to CoinGecko amounts to $76 billion. data.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
