TLDR
- Binance claims tokens like IoTeX, Cosmos, and Enjin showing $0 prices during Friday’s market crash were due to a display bug, not actual price drops
- The exchange says certain trading pairs reduced decimal places for minimum price movement, causing the UI to show zero prices while true market levels were maintained
- Traders speculate Binance may have faced a coordinated attack exploiting its Unified Account feature, which uses internal order book data instead of external oracles
- Binance announced $283 million in compensation for users liquidated during the depegging event that affected Ethena’s USDe stablecoin
- Users reported frozen accounts, failed stop-loss orders, and inability to close positions during the crash, prompting calls for regulatory investigations
Binance issued a statement on Sunday addressing reports that multiple cryptocurrency tokens crashed to $0 on its platform during Friday’s market turmoil. The exchange claims the zero prices were caused by a display issue rather than actual market conditions.
Binance attributed recent spot price anomalies to: (1) execution of legacy limit orders amid thin liquidity, some dating back to 2019 (e.g., IOTX, ATOM); and (2) UI display errors showing zero prices due to tick size changes, with actual execution unaffected. Display issues haveâŚ
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 12, 2025
Several altcoins including IoTeX, Cosmos, and Enjin appeared to crash to $0 on Binance during Friday’s sell-off. These same tokens maintained prices well above zero on other centralized exchanges during the same period.
According to Binance’s announcement, certain trading pairs reduced the number of decimal places allowed for minimum price movement. This caused the user interface to display zero prices while orders and balances tracked true market levels.
The incident occurred during what became the worst 24-hour crypto liquidation in market history. Up to $20 billion in leveraged positions were eliminated across the market.
Theories of Coordinated Attack
Crypto trader ElonTrades speculated that Binance may have been targeted by a malicious exploit. The theory centers on Binance’s Unified Account feature, which uses oracle data from internal order books rather than external sources.
Manipulation of USDe, wBETH and BNSOL began around 21:14 UTC.
You can zoom in on the minute chart of $SUI, $ATOM or any other altcoin and see the correlation. For people saying the depeg/manipulation happened after alts bottomed. Nonsense. You have to zoom in, this stuff⌠pic.twitter.com/1fBPfEoT5l
— ElonTrades (@ElonTrades) October 12, 2025
Binance had previously announced plans to fix this by sourcing price feeds from external oracles by Tuesday. ElonTrades suggested attackers exploited this window to create major price discrepancies.
The most severe impact involved Ethena’s USDe synthetic dollar losing its peg on Binance. The stablecoin dropped to $0.65 on the platform while maintaining its dollar peg elsewhere.
This triggered a cascade of liquidations estimated at up to $1 billion on Binance alone. The liquidations spread across the broader market as contagion.
User Reports and System Issues
Users reported multiple technical problems during the crash. Many traders claimed their accounts were frozen and they could not execute trades.
Stop-loss orders reportedly failed to execute as prices fell. Some users said they were unable to close or hedge positions while losses grew.
Binance acknowledged the disruptions in a statement. The exchange cited heavy market activity causing system delays and display issues.
The company assured users that funds remained secure. However, accusations of market manipulation emerged from multiple users on social media.
Compensation and Regulatory Concerns
Binance announced $283 million in total compensation for victims liquidated during the depegging event. The exchange has not detailed how this compensation will be distributed.
Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.Com, called for regulatory investigations of centralized exchanges that experienced heavy losses. His statement did not name specific platforms but came in the context of Friday’s events.
Binance was not alone in experiencing technical issues. Coinbase and Robinhood also reported problems during the same period.
Users continue to report delayed withdrawals and frozen peer-to-peer transactions. Binance states its systems are back online but has not provided a timeline for resolving remaining issues.
