Bitcoin flash crash below $62K wipes out $1.8B in leveraged bets

Bitcoin suddenly slipped below $62,000 during Asia trading on Thursday, pushing crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours to $1.8 billion, according to CoinGlass data. Leveraged long positions made up $1.5 billion of those losses.

The selloff coincided with persistent withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin ETFs, which recorded around $397 million in net outflows on Wednesday, per Farside Investors. Investors have pulled about $1.4 billion from the funds so far this week, led by nearly $1.2 billion in net outflows from BlackRocks IBIT.

Elsewhere, market participants tracked a 116-Bitcoin deposit from a Mt. Gox wallet to Bitstamp, following a separate $731 million transfer to a new address. The activity reignited speculation around pending creditor repayments before the October 2026 deadline.

Advertisement

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $64,628, marking a roughly 12% decline over the past seven days. Most major crypto, including Ether, BNB, and XRP, were also under pressure as the market extended its pullback.

Worldcoin outperforms market, touted as proxy for AI boom ahead of IPO wave

While most crypto traded flat to lower, a few stood out. Worldcoin ($WLD) rose approximately 33% over the past 24 hours, outperforming the broader market, followed by Ethena ($ENA), which gained about 18%.

Maelstrom, an investment fund run by the family office of Arthur Hayes, views Worldcoin as an underrecognized proxy for AI-related investment exposure. With increasing investor focus on companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI ahead of potential public listings, the firm suggests that $WLD provides a publicly tradable mechanism to gain exposure to the Sam Altman-associated ecosystem.

https://t.co/fxSMFHBNrH

— Maelstrom (@MaelstromFund) June 3, 2026

The thesis combines strong narrative momentum with supportive token dynamics. Despite AI enthusiasm, $WLD remains down year-to-date, while negative perpetual funding indicates heavy short positioning.

At the same time, ORBS has accumulated around 283 million $WLD, and scheduled daily unlock pressure is expected to fall by 43% in late July. With an unlocked market cap near $2 billion, Maelstrom suggests even modest incremental demand could drive outsized price moves, supporting a $5 target by August.

For $ENA, the recent price rally is largely driven by backing from Coinbase Ventures.