The good news for cryptocurrency investors arrived just after 8 hours on Friday: Coinbase, the largest cryptomarket in the United States, had concluded a deal with American regulators to dismiss a lawsuit that had been hung on the industry for years.
But within a few hours the cryptomarkt descended into a new crisis. At 10:51 am Bybit, another leading crypto exchange, said it was hacked -with industrial analysts who estimate the loss at almost $ 1.5 billion, the biggest theft in the crypto history.
The prices of Bitcoin, Ether and other large cryptocurrencies fell. Even the Coinbase stock price had fallen by 8 percent by the end of the day.
This contrast in the Split-Screen was a meaningful illustration of the state of Crypto in 2025. Even if President Trump embraces industry, it remains the wild west of the financial world, susceptible to scams, thefts and sudden market that is in the market .
A series of policy changes in Washington is ready to encourage millions of investors to float in crypto for the first time, despite the continuous struggle of industry to prevent the police and to prevent criminal activities. The hack remembered that, despite all its growing influence in politics, something of an international free-for-all-a chaotic market remains, despite all its growing influence in which even the most experienced investors sometimes suffer extreme losses.
“These boys whose entire company is Crypto, who are smart about these issues, lost just $ 1.5 billion,” said Corey Frayer, who worked on the Crypto policy during the Biden administration in the Securities and Exchange Commission. “So how do we expect ordinary Americans who just want their bank card to work to use the products safely?”
The news about Coinbase and Bybit came at the end of a roller coaster in the crypto world. A proliferation of new memecoins – digital currencies based on an internet joke or a famous mascot, without a practical function – has created widespread complaints about fraud.
Last week a memecoin fell by the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, suddenly in value, in value, there a political crisis off and investors cost more than $ 250 million.
Crypto managers have recently expressed worries about the spread of these risky cryptocurrencies, so that they can undo part of the progress that the industry has made with legislators. Shortly before his inauguration, Mr. Trump his own memecoin for sale – it shot up in value before he crashed. More than 800,000 crypto accounts lost money.
“Memecoins are not just a casino -they are worse,” wrote Haseb Qureshi, a crypto -venture investor, this week on social media. “They are a casino where every locking machine has a different owner, each of whom tries to drop you off as much as possible before you continue to the next one.”
Under the BIDEN administration, federal supervisors supervised a broad action against crypto, with lawsuits being submitted against many of the largest companies in the industry.
At the top of that list was Coinbase, a $ 60 billion company that became public in 2021. Two years ago, the SEC Coinbase sued, with the argument that the digital currencies that were sold on his platform were securities, just like the shares and bonds traded on Wall Street. . The supervisors argued that Coinbase should register with the SEC and follow strict rules to protect investors against financial damage.
But the attitude of the government towards Crypto transformed when Mr. Trump took office. The president has his own crypto company, World Liberty Financial, giving him a personal interest in the success of the industry. And he has nominated an ally of the crypto industry, the securities lawyer Paul Atkins, to lead the sec, who has quickly reduced his enforcement efforts.
In a regulatory application on Friday morning, Coinbase announced that the SEC had agreed to drop its lawsuit without imposing a financial fine. (The agreement requires approval by the supervisory directors of the agency, a process that is expected to be a formality.)
In festive posts on social media, managers from the industry explained the end of a 'siege against Crypto' by the federal government.
The euphoria did not last long. Bybit, which is located in Dubai and dozens of billions of dollars incorporated into daily transactions, revealed that thieves had violated his system and had stolen huge amounts of ether.
Crypto has a long history of harmful hacks, but the theft of Bybit Dwerged the previous record, when thieves $ 611 million stable in cryptocurrencies from a platform called PolyNetwork in 2021.
Even outside the crypto world there is little precedent for a theft that is so large. “It can even be the biggest theft of all time,” said Tom Robinson, a co-founder of Elliptic, a crypto-analysis company.
On social media, Bybit's Chief Executive insured, Ben Zhou, customers that the company was still a solvent. “Even if this hack loss is not restored, all assets of customers are supported 1 to 1,” he wrote. “We can cover the loss.”
In a live stream on Friday, Mr. Zhou, who Red Bull spoke, said that the “affected amount” was 401,000 ether, or around $ 1.1 billion. Crypto -forensic experts estimate the total closer to $ 1.5 billion, based on analysis of public transaction files.
Bybit does not offer any services to customers in the United States, according to its website. The representatives of the company did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
A crypto research group, Arkham Intelligence, said that North Korean hackers were behind the Bybit -infringement. Attacks by North Korean groups have plagued the industry for years.
The price of Bitcoin fell from around $ 100,000 early Friday to just over $ 95,000 that evening, a decrease of 5 percent. Other cryptocurrencies fell even further.
And a holiday for Coinbase ended with a cap of the stock market: by the time the market was closed on Friday, the shares have been acting at their lowest price since November.
