CoinMarketCap Price Glitch

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CoinMarketCap

On December 15th, 2021, the price on CoinMarketCap glitched. As far as we can observe, there was a relatively limited impact due to this incident.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About CoinMarketCap

"CoinMarketCap is a website that tracks the price movement of cryptocurrency. Binance Capital Management, which runs cryptocurrency exchanges, acquired CoinMarketCap in April 2020." "A recent report by statistics firm HypeStat claimed that every day more than 20 lakh 70 thousand people from countries like the US, India and Japan visit the platform to price-track and stay updated on cryptocurrencies."

The Reality

Trusting any central authority is a potential point of failure. In addition to going offline, the source could provide inaccurate information. Care needs to be taken to avoid making any decisions based on a single source.

What Happened

A glitch on CoinMarketCap (CMC) caused incorrect and exaggerated price data for almost all digital assets, making crypto owners briefly appear as "trillionaires" for a few hours. The glitch showed Bitcoin (BTC) trading at around $779 billion and Ethereum (ETH) at $9.2 billion.

"Binance Coin was listed at more than $2B, with its actual price at around $527. Shiba Inu’s price shot up to $22,026. Its actual price was around $0.000034." "Bitcoin hit $850 billion this past Tuesday while Ether popped to $179 billion per token. The prices weren’t real, of course. But they highlight how vulnerable crypto data providers and exchanges are to glitches and hacks."

Key Event Timeline - CoinMarketCap Price Glitch

Date	Event	Description
December 14th, 2021 11:56:00 PM MST	Twitter Reaction From aesa	Twitter user aesa reports that they "just woke up and almost got a heart attack when I opened coin market cap".
December 14th, 2021 2:59:00 PM MST	CoinBase Inflated Value Report	CoinBase reports that they are aware of some users seeing inflated prices on non-tradable assets via their platform.
December 14th, 2021 3:06:00 PM MST	CoinMarketCap Tweet	CoinMarketCap tweets to ask the community "How did it feel to be a trillionaire for a couple hours?".
December 14th, 2021 3:11:00 PM MST	Michael J Knowles Tweet	"So @CoinbaseWallet showed my having $7.7 billion worth of Ethereum. I felt that was a tidy profit, so I decided to sell, despite the $1.2 billion miner fee. But so far I’ve only received $48.05! Where’s the rest of my money, @coinbase?".
December 14th, 2021 4:26:00 PM MST	Jack Mull Quit His Job	Twitter user J4CKMULL reportedly quit his job and bought a lambourghini based on the CoinMarketCap prices.
December 14th, 2021 4:55:00 PM MST	CoinMarketCap Tweet	In response to a user reporting they had left their job and bought a lambourghini, CoinMarketCap recommends to tell their boss it was a prank.
December 15th, 2021 2:03:00 AM MST	CryptoNews Article	CryptoNews reports that A glitch on CoinMarketCap (CMC) caused incorrect and exaggerated price data for almost all digital assets, making crypto owners briefly appear as "trillionaires" for a few hours. The glitch showed Bitcoin (BTC) trading at around $779 billion and Ethereum (ETH) at $9.2 billion. CMC acknowledged the issue, stating their engineering team was investigating. The problem affected various crypto platforms reliant on CMC for data, including Crypto.com, Coinbase, Trust Wallet, and Yahoo Finance. Social media reactions ranged from humor to panic, with some joking about the situation while others were concerned, especially those with short positions. Some pointed out the need for reliable price oracles to prevent such incidents. Chainlink (LINK) was mentioned as one popular oracle on the Ethereum blockchain. Additionally, there were suggestions that trading bots using CMC's API may have contributed to the brief market rally during the glitch. As of the latest data, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $48,588, up 2.9% in a day but down 3.9% in a week. Ethereum (ETH) is priced at $3,901, unchanged in a day and up 2.1% in a week according to CoinGecko.
December 15th, 2021 2:36:00 PM MST	CoinMarketCap Website Announcement	CoinMarketCap announced that "engineering was aware of the incorrect prices but worked to resolve the issue".
December 15th, 2021 2:39:00 PM MST	Issue Is Deemed Resolved	The issue was deemed to be resolved. "CoinMarketCap’s systems are currently all operational."
December 17th, 2021 5:59:00 PM MST	Barron's Article	Barron's reports on the incorrect prices.

Technical Details

"Crypto market data firm CoinMarketCap experienced a glitch in pricing data for approximately two hours on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. Bitcoin shot to $850B, while Ethereum supposedly hit $179B. This sent traders reeling headfirst into utopia. Many believed they were crypto trillionaires. CoinMarketCap burst their bubble by announcing that a glitch had occurred in its price calculation engine due to the high volume of users on the platform."

"CoinMarketCap’s website announced at approximately 21:36 UTC that the engineering was aware of the incorrect prices but worked to resolve the issue. The issue was deemed resolved at 21:39 UTC on Dec. 15, 2021. CoinMarketCap’s systems are currently all operational."

"Binance Coin was listed at more than $2B, with its actual price at around $527. Shiba Inu’s price shot up to $22,026. Its actual price was around $0.000034." "Bitcoin hit $850 billion this past Tuesday while Ether popped to $179 billion per token. The prices weren’t real, of course. But they highlight how vulnerable crypto data providers and exchanges are to glitches and hacks."

"Whether the mistake was due to a security breach or simply a software bug is unclear." "It was an error in the display of the price. Coinbase’s non-tradeable asset data was affected, and assets in Coinbase Wallet were affected."

“A drastic volume of users...caused huge pressure in our servers and impacted our price calculation engine,” CoinMarketCap said in an email to Barron’s, adding that the issue was quickly fixed.

Total Amount Lost

It doesn't appear that any funds were lost.

Immediate Reactions

CMC acknowledged the issue, stating their engineering team was investigating. The problem affected various crypto platforms reliant on CMC for data, including Crypto.com, Coinbase, Trust Wallet, and Yahoo Finance.

Community Reactions

Social media reactions ranged from humor to panic, with some joking about the situation while others were concerned, especially those with short positions. Some pointed out the need for reliable price oracles to prevent such incidents. Chainlink (LINK) was mentioned as one popular oracle on the Ethereum blockchain. Additionally, there were suggestions that trading bots using CMC's API may have contributed to the brief market rally during the glitch.

"This sent traders reeling headfirst into utopia. Many believed they were crypto trillionaires. CoinMarketCap burst their bubble by announcing that a glitch had occurred in its price calculation engine due to the high volume of users on the platform."

"Twitter user @michaeljknowles tweeted that he appeared to have $7.7B worth of Ethereum in his Coinbase Wallet and decided to sell, despite the $1.2 miner fee. He only received $48.05."

"So @CoinbaseWallet showed my having $7.7 billion worth of Ethereum. I felt that was a tidy profit, so I decided to sell, despite the $1.2 billion miner fee. But so far I’ve only received $48.05! Where’s the rest of my money, @coinbase?".

Reactions From CoinMarketCap

“A drastic volume of users...caused huge pressure in our servers and impacted our price calculation engine,” CoinMarketCap said in an email to Barron’s, adding that the issue was quickly fixed.

Ultimate Outcome

"CoinMarketCap’s website announced at approximately 21:36 UTC that the engineering was aware of the incorrect prices but worked to resolve the issue. The issue was deemed resolved at 21:39 UTC on Dec. 15, 2021. CoinMarketCap’s systems are currently all operational."

As of the latest data, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $48,588, up 2.9% in a day but down 3.9% in a week. Ethereum (ETH) is priced at $3,901, unchanged in a day and up 2.1% in a week according to CoinGecko.

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

This case does not appear to have resulted in a loss to any individual.

Trusting any central authority is a potential point of failure. In addition to going offline, the source could provide inaccurate information. Care needs to be taken to avoid making any decisions based on a single source.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

This case does not appear to have resulted in a loss to any platform.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

It does not appear that any funds were lost in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.