Bitcoin Price Rises to $138,000 on Binance US

Binance US, a well-known crypto exchange, had trouble with its bitcoin (BTC) trading. For a few seconds on Tuesday, it showed the price of Bitcoin at over $138,000. This was almost 400% higher than the actual price. 

During this time, Binance US reported that around 62.22 BTC (about $1.8 million) were traded. The sudden price increase might suggest that someone bought this amount of bitcoin using tether (USDT), another cryptocurrency. 

If true, the large purchase might have filled all available sale orders at normal prices, causing the Bitcoin price to jump to an all-time high due to the lack of "real price" bids.

This kind of price surge usually happens in the opposite direction and is known as a "flash crash." This happened to Binance US in Oct. 2021 when Bitcoin's price dropped 87% before quickly going back up. Binance US said a faulty trading program caused this crash. 

Binance US has been dealing with liquidity issues (not having enough cash on hand) for a while. This is due to problems with its banking partners and regulators. 

Last month, traders were paying over 3% more for bitcoin and ether (ETH) on Binance US than on other platforms. Analysts believe that this was also caused by liquidity problems.