99% gone in 60 seconds: How a Polkadot trader may have crashed DOT futures

Cointelegraph

Published Mar 05, 2021 05:30PM ET

Updated Mar 05, 2021 07:00PM ET

On March 5, Polkadot (DOT) experienced a flash crash at Binance perpetual futures which resulted in the contract trading as low at $0.20. While this could have been an honest fat-finger trading mistake, a number of indicators point to a planned-attack.

While no hard evidence will likely ever emerge, the open interest increase just 24 hours ahead of the event indicates that an attacker could have generated a $8.3 million profit by manipulating Binance's matching engine.

DOT perpetual futures on Mar. 4, USD pricing. Source: Binance
DOT/USD perpetual futures open interest. Source: Binance
DOT/USD perpetual futures long-to-short ratio. Source: Binance

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