In a period of not more than an hour, something unusual has happened in the cryptocurrency markets. Looking at the top coins, we find that they have all suffered some considerable amount of decline in the same amount of time. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently down 3.74% and currently trading at $6,469. The King of Crypto seems like it is going to continue with the decline at the moment of writing this.
Etherem (ETH) has also not been spared. The King of Smart contracts is currently down 7.34% and currently trading at $500. Ripple (XRP) is also down 4.77% and is currently trading at $0.51. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) seems to be headed back to levels below $800 and is currently trading at $823.
Tron (TRX) which has an Independence Day in less than 3 days, is also down 6.79% and is currently trading at $0.0456.
Looking at the total market capitalization, earlier on today, the levels were at $282 Billion. The value has since dropped to current levels of $270 Billion indicating a loss of $12 Billion in the same period of not more than an hour.
So what exactly is going on?
One theory is that there was a delayed response to the BitHumb hack. At first, the global crypto traders stood their ground as the hack was announced two days ago on the 20th of June. However, news reaching Ethereum World News indicate that the South Korean government wants to get to the bottom of the two hacks of Coinrail as well as Bithumb.
The government notice of the investigation states that:
The Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (hereinafter referred to as ‘Science and Technology Ministry’) and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) said that they are investigating the cause of the accident caused by the virtual currency leak that occurred in Coinrail and Bithumb.
The further declaration of investigations by the South Korean government through the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), could have caused a lot of South Korean traders to start cashing out and hence the current decline this Friday.
Preliminary reports indicate that several South Korean exchanges lack proper security measures for their exchanges. According to the ministry, 17 companies had a ‘system access control deficiency’ while 16 had ‘insufficient network isolation’. They also noted poor management of crypto wallets by several exchanges. The Ministry plans on intensifying their investigations and security scrutiny of the exchanges in the country.
The noted security deficiencies could be to blame for traders cashing out of exchanges en masse to storing their funds in hardware wallets or other more secure exchanges and wallets.
