Did Market Manipulation Cause Bitcoin to Crash?

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has shed much than 45% of its worth during the past six months, and that symptom is existent capable to nonstop crypto investors hunting for a villain. And they've recovered one, oregon astatine slightest immoderate radical deliberation they have: It's Jane Street, a quantitative Wall Street trading company, which is being accused crossed societal media of systematically driving Bitcoin's terms lower. The allegations went viral successful precocious February aft a national suit accused the steadfast of insider trading tied to a large crypto institution collapsing successful 2022.

Let's untangle what's really happening and wherefore it astir apt shouldn't alteration your concern approach.

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The halfway allegation projected connected societal media is that Jane Street, acting arsenic a holder and trader of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT) and different spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has been intentionally dumping its holdings astatine the U.S. marketplace unfastened astir 10 a.m. each day, thereby depressing Bitcoin prices and triggering forced liquidations of leveraged crypto traders.

Proponents of the communicative typically suggest that the intent of this enactment is to past bargain the coin astatine a little terms level than what would different beryllium possible, mounting the institution up for a nett the adjacent time erstwhile the process supposedly repeats. Similarly, Jane Street is hypothesized to person had immoderate benignant of relation successful the Oct. 10 crypto flash crash, which is inactive a sore taxable among galore crypto investors.

You tin astir apt already archer that determination are a fewer holes successful this story, but immoderate circumstantial details inactive marque the mentation tempting to endorse.

Jane Street disclosed having astir $790 cardinal successful Bitcoin Trust shares successful its Q4 2025 filing, adding astir $276 cardinal during the quarter, truthful it apt has conscionable capable fiscal heft to somewhat impact Bitcoin's terms from clip to time. It's besides existent that Jane Street was sued connected Feb. 23 successful national tribunal successful Manhattan for alleged insider trading earlier and during the melodramatic illness of the TerraUSD stablecoin successful 2022. And India's securities regulator banned it from section markets successful 2025 implicit alleged scale manipulation.

But concern firms similar Jane Street marque their gross by trading, which includes selling definite assets whenever they spot fit, and that isn't the aforesaid arsenic intentional marketplace manipulation. Furthermore, semipermanent Bitcoin holders sold an estimated 143,000 Bitcoins during the 30-day play ended March 1, pushing the terms down, and astatine the aforesaid time, ETF redemptions often exerted acold much selling unit than immoderate azygous institution could.