Neither the Fed nor Trump: According to Tom Lee, This Is the Real Reason Behind the Strong Bitcoin and Altcoin Decline We Are Experiencing

Fundstrat Global Advisors Research Director Tom Lee suggested that the recent pullback in cryptocurrency markets may be due to a “mechanical error” rather than market dynamics.

The renowned market strategist appeared on CNBC's “The Exchange” program to assess the recent sharp declines in cryptocurrency markets. Lee stated that the market crashes were caused by a technical chain reaction that occurred around October 10th and led to the liquidation of approximately 2 million accounts.

According to Lee, the crash was sparked by a pricing error on an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange. The price of a stablecoin, which would normally be $1, momentarily dropped to $0.65 due to a lack of liquidity on the exchange.

According to Lee, the crash was sparked by a pricing error on an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange. The price of a stablecoin, which would normally be $1, momentarily dropped to $0.65 due to a lack of liquidity on the exchange.

The error allegedly occurred on the Binance exchange, and the asset responsible was the USDe stablecoin issued by Ethena Labs. Binance's lack of liquidity in the USDe pair was the spark that set off this chain reaction.

This price deviation triggered the exchange’s Automatic Deleveraging (ADL) mechanism. Lee explained that the system executed trades based on this erroneous internal price, resulting in a chain reaction in which approximately 2 million crypto accounts, including those that had been profitable just minutes before, were liquidated.

Tom Lee argued that this incident had a devastating impact on market makers, who act as the crypto ecosystem's “central bank.” He noted that market makers were forced to reduce liquidity to cover the gaps in their balance sheets, saying, “As prices fell, they were forced to sell more. The gradual decline we've seen over the past few weeks reflects this 'crippling' state of market makers.”