Bitcoin prices skyrocketed for a second
Do you have Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency? You should know that you were a millionaire for a few seconds.
The volatility of cryptocurrencies has its good side and its wrong side. The bad part is that you can lose all your savings in a matter of minutes, and the good part is that you can become a millionaire in the same amount of time. If you have cryptocurrencies, it is possible that yesterday you felt what it is like to win the lottery. The reason for this nice feeling is that Bitcoin and other crypto prices suddenly skyrocketed to unseen levels for a few minutes. Unfortunately for you and everyone else, the increase in value wasn't natural; a bug in Coinbase and CoinMarketCap caused cryptocurrencies to fly into infinity. This bug caused Bitcoin to reach $878 billion. As a result, thousands of people became millionaires; some even became billionaires. The joy was short-lived.
Prices of cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase Global Inc. and popular data provider CoinMarketCap.com were unhinged on Tuesday, with many tokens showing astronomical gains that had users talking about huge unexpected spikes and others wondering what had happened. At one point, the price of bitcoin appeared to top $7 million, while there showed more than $600,000.
The mistake also affected the rest of the cryptos, such as Ethereum and Ripple, causing their values to rise to $1 million (right now, it barely exceeds $3,000 real). The sudden price rise caused many cryptocurrency investors to post that they would get rich and quit their jobs on social media. Who wouldn't if you suddenly go from having €30,000 in the bank to owning €700 million? But, of course, savvy users immediately suspected something was amiss, asking Coinbase and CoinMarketCap directly if they had been hacked. This is what the platforms responded: "We are aware that some customers see inflated values for non-tradable crypto assets on Coinbase.com and Coinbase Wallet. This is a display issue and does not affect trading." Thus ended the mystery that had made millions of investors rich...
Unfortunately for them. Their bitcoins had not skyrocketed, but it was a mistake once again.
The problem has been resolved, CoinMarketCap.com said in a statement. However, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, glitches persisted, and both prices and upticks shown by the data provider are erratic and vary with each update. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, explained as much on Twitter on Tuesday, noting that trading has not been affected. A few minutes later, Coinbase said it is still investigating asset pricing and trading difficulties on Coinbase Wallet, allowing customers to manage their crypto assets. Neither company explained the source of the glitch.
"We have yet to find any evidence to suggest that an outside party caused today's crash," CoinMarketCap.com said in a statement, as many on Twitter speculated that the site had been hacked. CoinMarketCap.com is owned by Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase said earlier in a tweet that some customers saw inflated values for "non-tradable" crypto assets and that it was a display issue. Still, customers were circulating screenshots of the gains and their suddenly increased balances online.
The volatility of cryptocurrencies has its good side and its wrong side. The bad part is that you can lose all your savings in a matter of minutes, and the good part is that you can become a millionaire in the same amount of time. If you have cryptocurrencies, it is possible that yesterday you felt what it is like to win the lottery. The reason for this nice feeling is that Bitcoin and other crypto prices suddenly skyrocketed to unseen levels for a few minutes. Unfortunately for you and everyone else, the increase in value wasn't natural; a bug in Coinbase and CoinMarketCap caused cryptocurrencies to fly into infinity. This bug caused Bitcoin to reach $878 billion. As a result, thousands of people became millionaires; some even became billionaires. The joy was short-lived.
Prices of cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase Global Inc. and popular data provider CoinMarketCap.com were unhinged on Tuesday, with many tokens showing astronomical gains that had users talking about huge unexpected spikes and others wondering what had happened. At one point, the price of bitcoin appeared to top $7 million, while there showed more than $600,000.
The mistake also affected the rest of the cryptos, such as Ethereum and Ripple, causing their values to rise to $1 million (right now, it barely exceeds $3,000 real). The sudden price rise caused many cryptocurrency investors to post that they would get rich and quit their jobs on social media. Who wouldn't if you suddenly go from having €30,000 in the bank to owning €700 million? But, of course, savvy users immediately suspected something was amiss, asking Coinbase and CoinMarketCap directly if they had been hacked. This is what the platforms responded: "We are aware that some customers see inflated values for non-tradable crypto assets on Coinbase.com and Coinbase Wallet. This is a display issue and does not affect trading." Thus ended the mystery that had made millions of investors rich...
Unfortunately for them. Their bitcoins had not skyrocketed, but it was a mistake once again.
The problem has been resolved, CoinMarketCap.com said in a statement. However, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, glitches persisted, and both prices and upticks shown by the data provider are erratic and vary with each update. Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, explained as much on Twitter on Tuesday, noting that trading has not been affected. A few minutes later, Coinbase said it is still investigating asset pricing and trading difficulties on Coinbase Wallet, allowing customers to manage their crypto assets. Neither company explained the source of the glitch.
"We have yet to find any evidence to suggest that an outside party caused today's crash," CoinMarketCap.com said in a statement, as many on Twitter speculated that the site had been hacked. CoinMarketCap.com is owned by Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase said earlier in a tweet that some customers saw inflated values for "non-tradable" crypto assets and that it was a display issue. Still, customers were circulating screenshots of the gains and their suddenly increased balances online.