Major centralised price trackers, CoinMarketCap and Coinbase systems, went haywire yesterday, after a system glitch caused the leading crypto price trackers to display incorrect crypto prices.
While checking the price chart of major cryptos, users were shocked to see the listed cryptocurrencies on CMC displaying their prices in millions and billions of dollars, which spurred great confusion among investors.
What Was The CoinMarketCap Glitch?
On December 14, the price charts of leading cryptocurrencies displayed their value in millions, or even billions. This caused quite an uproar among investors. The CoinMarketCap engineering team later addressed the increased valuations displayed on the site
The organisation referred to the glitch as a system bug that compromised the servers and depicted inaccurate prices.
During the glitch, users saw their crypto wallet holdings by billions and trillions of dollars due to the issues.
The Consequences of the Glitch
Leading price trackers such as CoinMarketCap and Coinbase are used extensively by users to check real-time crypto prices. These central price trackers have carved their niche as a trusted website that shows real-time data based on market fluctuations.
So, while these occasional issues can be quite funny, some holders pointed out the more serious side. Temporary price glitches like these can prove detrimental to investors in the long run. The incorrect data displayed could have stimulated users to rush and cash out their stored cryptos, resulting in excessive liquidation.
"What if you happened to have a leveraged short position that got liquidated in this flash pump? What if it was the other way around, and the prices crashed near zero, triggering stop-losses?" posted one Reddit user.
The glitch prompted some to promote decentralised price trackers such as Chainlink, which they deem more robust and immune to such system upheavals.
The glitch has since been rectified, with Bitcoin and Ethereum now trading at $47,129 and $3,732.44, respectively.
Read More: Why Is The Crypto Market Down Today?
[Image: Nick Chong/Unsplash]
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