The native token of the Hyperliquid platform, HYPE, briefly rose to $98 on Lighter, an Ethereum Layer 2 perpetual futures exchange, before plummeting back.
The Lighter team clarified that the spike was caused by bot activity, not genuine market movement. However, the incident has sparked notable criticism from the community.
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What Caused the $98 HYPE Price Spike on Lighter?
The incident unfolded several hours ago. Screenshots circulating on X (formerly Twitter) showed a chart depicting HYPE’s price surging from approximately $48 to a peak of $98, forming a long green candle.
The spike represented more than a doubling of HYPE’s value, prompting immediate speculation. However, Lighter’s team swiftly attributed the event to a malfunctioning bot.
According to the exchange, no liquidations occurred and no users suffered losses beyond the temporary price distortion. To prevent scaling issues on price charts, Lighter removed the exaggerated wick from its public interface.
Furthermore, the team explained that on-chain records remained unaltered and accessible via block explorers. They positioned the removal as a user-friendly decision to prevent display distortions, noting that alternative frontends could opt to retain the data.
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The response elicited mixed reactions. Supporters praised the move as pragmatic.
Nonetheless, criticism dominated the discourse. Many market watchers accused Lighter of undermining the principles of decentralized finance (DeFi).
Crypto analyst Duo Nine argued that the platform’s decision masked underlying liquidity issues rather than addressing them transparently.
Another community member echoed these sentiments, calling the move an attempt to erase history.
The post added that while no automatic liquidations occurred, the sudden price spike reportedly triggered panic among traders. Some closed positions at a loss to avoid potential liquidations, while others may have gained unfairly from the brief market distortion.
As of Tuesday morning, HYPE traded around $47.8, with Lighter’s charts now reflecting a seamless baseline devoid of the infamous spike. Still, the incident has reignited concerns about liquidity and transparency across decentralized platforms. Whether it erodes trust in Lighter or catalyzes improvements remains to be seen.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/hype-token-spike-on-lighter-sparks-defi-backlash/
