A $19 billion crypto market liquidation event on Friday sparked accusations of a coordinated sell-off, but some analysts believe it was a natural deleveraging cycle. Perpetual futures open interest on DEXs dropped to $14 billion from $26 billion, while crypto lending protocol fees hit over $20 million, and weekly DEX volumes soared to $177 billion.

Despite speculation of a coordinated correction, blockchain data showed that most of the liquidation was organic. Only $1 billion in long Bitcoin positions was liquidated out of a $14 billion decline in open interest. Market makers were accused of creating a liquidity vacuum that worsened the crash, withdrawing liquidity an hour after a tariff threat from US President Donald Trump.

Coinwatch highlighted a 98% market depth collapse on Binance, the largest crypto exchange, during the crash. Market makers allegedly pulled liquidity from the books, with two out of three abandoning their responsibilities for hours. The platform is in discussions with the market makers to increase their presence in the order books.

Read more at Cointelegraph: $19B Crypto Market Crash: ‘Controlled Deleveraging’ Not ‘Cascade’