The settlement news regarding Binance and the departure of the company’s founder and former CEO – Changpeng Zhao – sent shockwaves through the crypto industry yesterday, which resulted in price declines among almost all assets.
This enhanced volatility has harmed over-leveraged investors, with the total value of liquidated positions soaring to well over $200 million on a daily scale.
- CryptoPotato reported the rumors on Monday that Binance was about to reach a settlement deal with the US Department of Justice. Although the speculations contained a massive amount of $4 billion, the news actually resulted in price increases for most crypto assets, especially BNB, which jumped to a 5-month peak above $270.
- That deal materialized yesterday. The DOJ announced settling the charges against the crypto behemoth for $4.3 billion, closing all investigations, the first of which began five years ago.
- Furthermore, Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, stepped down as CEO and pled guilty to failing to implement a strong anti-money laundering program within his company.
- This actual development led to price drops for BNB and the rest of the market. Binance Coin slumped from its peak of $275 to a 20-day low of $222, thus losing about 20% of value in less than a day.
- The rest of the crypto market turned red as well, with bitcoin dumping from $37,500 to $35,500 and ETH losing the $2,000 mark.
- Most assets have bounced off from their daily lows, which has increased the volatility levels. Somewhat expectedly, this meant pain for over-leveraged traders, with nearly 100,000 liquidated. The total value of the wrecked positions stands at $230 million on a 24-hour scale.
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