Bitcoin Trading Volume Hits Record High Following Market Turmoil

Recent market fluctuations have led to an unprecedented surge in Bitcoin trading volumes as traders reacted to falling cryptocurrency prices, with some hackers taking advantage of the situation to acquire discounted Ether.

Surge in Bitcoin Transactions Amid Market Drops

On August 5, significant losses were recorded by traders who saw their positions liquidated as the prices of major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL), fell sharply. In response to these market conditions, many investors opted to either sell their Bitcoin holdings to cut losses or purchase Bitcoin at discounted rates, around $50,000.

Data from Blockchain.com indicated that on August 6, the US dollar trading volume on prominent Bitcoin exchanges exceeded $1.14 billion, reflecting the heightened trading activity.

Market Conditions Trigger Increased Activity

The trading activity peak witnessed recently was last matched in March, prior to the fourth Bitcoin halving which occurred on April 20. Since the halving, the daily trading volume on Bitcoin exchanges has averaged around $30 million.

It’s essential to highlight that Blockchain.com aggregates data from major crypto exchanges and some over-the-counter markets; hence, the actual trading volume figures might be even higher than reported.

Analytics from Dune show that over 90% of all transactions processed on the Bitcoin network on August 5 involved BTC, while other Bitcoin-related protocols, like Ordinals and BRC-20, combined accounted for less than 9% of the network’s bandwidth.

Exploiting Price Drops: Opportunistic Actions by Hackers

The recent market downturn resulted in Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing price reductions of over 10% and 20%, respectively. Cybercriminals viewed the dip as a chance to acquire cheap Ether using funds garnered through previous thefts.

For instance, an exploiter involved in the Nomad Bridge incident utilized 39.75 million Dai (DAI) tokens, which were stolen in August 2022, to purchase 16,892 ETH during this significant price drop.

According to findings from blockchain analytics firm PeckShield, the Nomad exploiter also transferred 17.75 ETH to another Ethereum address while concurrently sending approximately 2,400 ETH (valued at around $7 million) to Tornado Cash as of August 5.