A viral thread on X (1.1 million views) has put ahead a forensic narrative for Friday’s crypto wipeout, arguing that what seemed like a chaotic macro-driven capitulation was, in truth, a focused exploitation of how Binance priced collateral inside its Unified Account. The writer @ElonTrades frames the episode not as a stablecoin failure however as an exchange-side design flaw that was hit exactly when the broader market was already on edge.
Why Did The Crypto Market Actually Crash?
In response to @ElonTrades, the core of the setup was Binance’s resolution to worth sure collateral — notably USDe, wBETH and BNSOL — utilizing its personal spot-order-book knowledge reasonably than exterior or redemption-based oracles. The thread claims Binance had already introduced a change “on Oct 6 … to maneuver to oracle-based pricing,” however with rollout till Oct 14, leaving what the writer describes as an eight-day vulnerability window.
In that window, the alleged exploiters might transfer the venue’s inside marks by shifting prints in native order books, immediately shrinking customers’ borrowing energy and setting off margin calls.
The Oct 11 Crypto Crash — What Actually Occurred
TL;DR:
Roughly $60–90M of $USDe was dumped on Binance, together with $wBETH and $BNSOL, exploiting a pricing flaw that valued collateral utilizing Binance’s personal order-book knowledge as an alternative of exterior oracles.
That localized depeg triggered…
— ElonTrades (@ElonTrades) October 12, 2025
The thread’s centerpiece allegation is that “roughly $60–90M of $USDe was dumped on Binance, together with wBETH and BNSOL, exploiting a pricing flaw that valued collateral utilizing Binance’s personal order-book knowledge as an alternative of exterior oracles.” This localized stress supposedly pushed USDe to “$0.65 on Binance solely (nonetheless ~$1 elsewhere),” whereas wBETH “drops over 90%” and BNSOL “plunges to $0.13.” As a result of Unified Accounts marked collateral to those distressed venue costs, “this immediately wiped margin worth and triggered $500M–$1B in compelled liquidations,” which, by the writer’s tally, then “cascaded into $19B+ globally.”
Timing is essential to the idea. The thread locations the inflection at 21:14 UTC, asserting that “belongings used as collateral in Unified Accounts — USDe, wBETH, and BNSOL — all start depegging or collapsing concurrently.” It argues that if readers “zoom in on the minute chart of $SUI, $ATOM or another altcoin … the depeg immediately slashed collateral values,” catalyzing a second wave of liquidations “not seen on worth charts as a brand new drop, however seen as compelled sells and failed accounts proper at or after the underside.” Within the writer’s phrasing: “It’s a must to zoom in, these items occurred within the blink of a watch.”
Overlaying that microstructure shock, the thread situates a macro accelerant: thr Fact Social submit by US President Donad Trump “at 16:50 UTC” asserting “100% tariffs on Chinese language items.” The writer says the market was already weakening — “~14:00 UTC … BTC begins promoting off nicely earlier than any information” — however that the tariff headline “accelerates the sell-off,” with “BTC … ~$124K → ~$113K, ETH … ~$3,600 → ~$3,050.” The important thing competition is causality across the night leg: “The timing exhibits the collateral depegs and the altcoin collapse had been one occasion, not separate — the depegs brought on the cascade.”
Revenue motive and preparation are central to the submit’s allegation of coordination. The thread asserts that “contemporary wallets on Hyperliquid opened $1.1B in BTC/ETH shorts, funded by $110M USDC from Arbitrum-linked sources,” hours earlier than the essential prints, and that as “BTC and ETH cratered,” these positions “netted $192M in revenue earlier than closing out on the backside.” The phrasing is unequivocal: “Timing, precision, and funding paths all recommend coordination.” Within the thread’s personal abstract: “A ~$90M dump on Binance and a $1.1B leveraged quick elsewhere sparked a $19B massacre. Not a stablecoin failure, however a masterclass in exploiting flawed collateral valuation throughout peak macro stress.”
The writer additionally claims autopsy acknowledgement from the crypto trade facet, writing that “Binance admitted ‘platform-related points,’ promised compensation for affected margin/futures/mortgage customers, and rolled out minimal worth flooring + oracle integration,” and that the corporate later “identifies this because the window of ‘irregular pricing’ and compensates affected customers,” specifying a span of 21:36–22:16 UTC. On this telling, the venue’s personal framing — “platform-related points” and focused remediation — is per an exchange-localized malfunction that was then transmitted into the broader market by way of liquidation engines and cross-venue hedging.
Not everybody accepts the “coordinated exploit” thesis. Macro and crypto analyst Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) known as it a “nice evaluation” however warned that it “assumes manipulation/assault, which is probably not true.” His counterhypothesis is extra prosaic: “The USDE dumping that triggered the liquidations cascade might have merely been a rational actor trying to derisk given the Trump headline, and unrelated from any prior shorting.” If this view holds, the chain of occasions would nonetheless go by the identical venue-specific stress factors and forced-selling mechanics, however with out implying foreknowledge or cross-venue orchestration.
At press time, the whole crypto market cap stood at $3.89 trillion.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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