Bitcoin Price Slumps Following Bitfinex Outage

The price of bitcoin slumped again today after Bitfinex closed its order book, citing issues with its post-trade processing.

AccessTimeIconAug 24, 2015 at 5:45 p.m. UTC
Updated Mar 2, 2023 at 10:32 p.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

The price of bitcoin slumped again today after Bitfinex closed its order book, citing issues with its post-trade processing.

The Hong Kong-based exchange, which witnessed a 'flash crash' just last week, halted trading for a seven-hour period this morning. The Bitfinex price promptly fell a further 3.8% when it reopened at 12:31pm UTC.

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • In a statement on Reddit, Zane Tackett, Bitfinex's director of community and product development, said:

    "Earlier today, at 5:27 UTC, we encountered an issue with post-trade processing, upon which we decided to halt trading to ensure consistency in the order book."

    Users were given a 15-minute window to cancel their orders before trading restarted. Many expressed frustration with the beta service, which has been plagued by technical glitches that Bitfinex's Phil Potter attributed to its transition to AlphaPoint software.

    According to Bitcoinity data, the exchange handled 22,400 trades today, down from 81,500 this time last week. Since the flash crash, it has been shunted to the fourth most popular exchange, succeeded by Huobi and BTC China.

    Last week's flash crash at Bitfinex saw the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index fall 14% to a four-month low of $214.03. At press time, it remains $30 below pre-flash crash levels.

    Besides Bitfinex, a bitcoin market maker told CoinDesk the slump could also be due to the uncertainty around Bitcoin XT – the contentious client aiming to 'fork' bitcoin. He said:

    "Brittle markets as evidenced by Bitfinex's downtime today, coupled with overhang from the block size debate, mean a lot of people don't want to be the last ones to be able to sell."

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.