Bitcoin plunged after approaching historical highs, ETFs went crazy, Coinbase crashed, and Nigeria cracked down on people.

On February 28th, Bitcoin once again rode the roller coaster, approaching historical highs before taking a dive, leading to a "zero scare" on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Bitcoin surged in the overnight US stock market session, breaking through the $64,000 mark, just a step away from the all-time high, but then suddenly plummeted, dropping $5,000 in just a few minutes, narrowing the increase from a peak of 13% to less than 6% at one point.

The market's "wild swings" meant that many investors were left with nothing. According to Coinglass data, in the past 24 hours, over 180,000 people were liquidated, with a total liquidation amount of $741 million.

Amidst the drastic fluctuations in Bitcoin prices, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase suddenly crashed, causing some users to be unable to access the platform, with some users' balances showing as 0.

Coinbase quickly confirmed that some users may see a balance of 0 in their Coinbase accounts and encounter errors during transactions.

Coinbase reassured users by stating:

Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update soon.

Your assets are safe.

After the outage was reported, Coinbase's stock price rose over 6% from the daily high but closed with an increase of only 0.79%.

ETFs were bought up by investors, and MicroStrategy's CEO saw his net worth surge by $700 million in just 3 days.

Since the launch of the Bitcoin spot ETF on January 11th this year, Bitcoin has experienced a brief decline, but has since surged, with a growth of over 40% in the past month, nearly 20% in just the previous three days.

During Wednesday's US stock trading session, Bitcoin suddenly soared, breaking through the $64,000 mark, hitting a new high since November 2021.

As Bitcoin approached its all-time high, investors flocked to related ETFs.

By the close of the US stock market on Wednesday, the daily total trading volume of the US Bitcoin spot ETF exceeded $7.5 billion, 2.5 times the previous historical record of $3 billion, with BlackRock leading with a trading volume of $32 billion. Bitcoin futures ETFs are also having a blast, with the trading volumes of BITX, BITO, and BITI all heading towards new historical highs.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy, the publicly listed company holding the most Bitcoin globally, saw its stock price surge by over 10% last Wednesday, with a cumulative increase of over 40% in the past five trading days.

In just three days, MicroStrategy's founder and chairman Michael Saylor's net worth surged by nearly $700 million. Statistics show that MicroStrategy currently holds approximately 193,000 Bitcoins, valued at nearly $11.8 billion.

According to data from Cointelegraph, the prices of Bitcoin against the Japanese Yen, Malaysian Ringgit, Indian Rupee, New Taiwan Dollar, South Korean Won, Chilean Peso, Australian Dollar, South African Rand, Norwegian Krone, and Turkish Lira have all reached historical highs in the past few days.

"This is insane," said Ryan Kim, head of derivatives at FalconX, a major digital asset brokerage firm.

Binance executives arrested, money laundering scandal resurfaces

Turning our attention to Africa, a recent arrest operation by the Nigerian security forces has stirred the hearts of everyone in the cryptocurrency community.

According to the Financial Times, two executives of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, were recently detained in Nigeria.

Nigerian authorities are intensifying efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency trading to maintain the stability of their legal tender, the Naira. Over the past year, the Naira has depreciated by nearly 70%, making it the worst-performing currency globally.

Last week, Nigerian authorities announced a ban on local telecommunications companies and other internet service providers from accessing cryptocurrency trading platforms, and the arrest of Binance executives occurred after the ban was issued. Reports indicate that they were detained by the Nigerian National Security Adviser's office, with their passports confiscated.

Following the executives' arrest, Binance quickly halted trading between the Naira and Bitcoin and Tether (USDT).

On Tuesday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, mentioned Binance during a press conference discussing the flow of funds through cryptocurrency exchanges.

We are concerned about the continued existence of certain practices, indicating that these entities (cryptocurrency platforms) are involved in illegal fund flows, at best, suspicious fund flows. In the case of Binance, in just the past year, Nigeria alone has seen $26 billion transferred through Binance from sources and users that we cannot fully identify.

Nigeria's actions have dealt a blow to Binance's efforts to address money laundering issues.

In November last year, Binance admitted to criminal charges related to money laundering and violations of international sanctions, and paid a $4.3 billion fine to US authorities.