Violet Vallaya
The cryptocurrency market faced significant volatility Wednesday as several major exchanges including Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken experienced service interruptions. This coincided with a surge in the price of Bitcoin, which reached nearly $64,000 before seeing a sharp drop.
Coinbase Outage Causes Temporary Panic
A technical issue on Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, led to a temporary display of zero account balances for users. This triggered panic selling, driving the price of Bitcoin down from $64,000 to $59,000 within a 15-minute window, according to The Kobeissi Letter. The fall represented a nearly 9% drop in market value and wiped out approximately $100 billion from BTC’s market capitalization.
This is absolutely insane: The Coinbase, $COIN, crash just erased $100 BILLION of market cap in #Bitcoin in 15 minutes. Between 12:15 PM ET and 12:30 PM ET, Bitcoin fell from $64,000 to $59,000.
The outage caused widespread disruption and frustration among users, who took to social media to cent their anger and disappointment. However, Coinbase quickly addressed the issue and restored normal services within a short period.
Market Rebounds Despite Exchange Issues
Despite the initial volatility, Bitcoin managed to recover swiftly, regaining its position above the $62,000 mark. As of writing, on Feb. 29, BTC was trading at $62,627.55, a 5.7% increase from the previous day. The market capitalization also rebounded, reaching $1.22 trillion, surpassing the pre-outage level.
Several other major exchanges, including Robinhood and Kraken, also reported service disruptions during this period. The exact cause of these outages remains unclear.
Bitcoin Reaches Near All-Time High Before Pullback
The events unfolded just as Bitcoin was approaching its all-time high, adding further drama to the situation. The leading cryptocurrency had reached a high of $63,913.13 before the price fluctuations began.
As the crypto community grappled with the outage, emotions ran high. Hate comments flooded social media, directed at Coinbase—the platform that faltered during the critical moment. Nevertheless, the market’s swift recovery suggests a growing maturity and resilience within the crypto ecosystem.
