The Bitcoin price has been on a sharp rally since last Thursday, when BlackRock filed its application for a Bitcoin spot ETF. Since hitting the local low of $24,819 along the Tether FUD, BTC price is up more than 16% since the BlackRock news broke.
Bitcoin hits $138,070 on Binance US
However, this by no means explains the following news: Some users of Binance US are report that the Bitcoin price has reached as much as over $138,000 on the exchange. The popular Twitter account @MikeBurgersburg wrote: “Lololololol- Bitcoin reached $138,070 on Binance US a while ago. Everything okay there, CZ?”.
The anomaly was also shared by Twitter user @OperationAjax, who posted the screenshot below and wrote: “I think someone broke the money maker on @BinanceUS lol. Someone put them in “UltraWASH mode” and sent #BTC/Tether to $140,000/BTC.”
At the time of writing, neither Binance US nor Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao have commented on the Bitcoin price anomaly. Therefore, one can only speculate what happened. The most likely explanation is an internal data error.
But other reasons are also conceivable, such as insufficient liquidity on the exchange, which led to the phenomenal price. Kaiko, the market data provider, reported yesterday that Binance trading volumes in the US have plummeted since the start of the year.
“The US crypto exchange market is more loaded than ever,” Kaiko wrote via Twitter, sharing the chart below, which shows that Binance US share of the US market has plummeted from 8% at the start of the year to 1.5 % currently.
However, the fact that the price is currently no longer displayed on Binance US speaks against the theory of insufficient liquidity. In this regard, a data error seems more likely.
The pressure on Binance may increase further
Meanwhile, pressure on Binance in the US could continue to mount, even as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Binance US reached a tentative agreement on the threat of an asset freeze last Friday, June 16.
As NewsBTC reported, the proposed measures include restricting Binance officials’ access to private keys and disclosing corporate expenses. The settlement is subject to approval by the relevant federal judge.
Otherwise, Travis Kling, former equity portfolio manager and senior investment advisor at Ikigai Asset Management, noted via Twitter that there is currently a lot of chatter about the Blackrock Bitcoin ETF, “and for good reason.” However Klin sees Binance as an obstacle for the ETF, indirectly implying that Operation Choke Point 2.0 is not over yet:
Let me say one thing: there is no chance, and I mean zero, of this ETF being endorsed by Binance in its current position of market dominance. If this ETF is approved, Binance will be gone completely or their role in price discovery will be greatly reduced. If Binance holds its current level of influence, there is no chance of this ETF being approved.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin price stood at $28,859, breaking the downward trend that has been going on since mid-April this year.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com