CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, believes that the crypto liquidations since the new US tax could be in the range of 8 to 10 billion USD. Specifically, he said that Bybit and other major exchanges are limiting the publicly available liquidation data.
In the 2022 collapse of FTX, Zhou said the actual liquidations were 4-6 times worse than the reported figures. Going forward, he said Bybit will increase transparency on liquidation data in real-time.
Bybit's Zhou speaks bluntly about taxes
Ben Zhou, CEO of Bybit, the second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has made concerning statements. The market has been weakened by DeepSeek, a Chinese AI protocol that has damaged US tech stocks.
However, since President Trump imposed taxes on Canada and Mexico, the crypto market has plunged. Losses of 2 billion USD have been reported, but Zhou believes these taxes have caused much more damage:
"I'm afraid the total actual liquidations today are much higher than 2 billion USD, in my estimate it must be at least around 8-10 billion USD. FYI, Bybit's 24-hour liquidations alone were 2.1 billion USD. Bybit's 24-hour liquidations recorded on Coinglass are around 333 million USD, however, this is not all the liquidations. We have API limits on the amount of data we can push out per second,"
Zhou said.
Zhou's views on the taxes are particularly important as Bybit has been heavily implicated in the FTX collapse. Zhou was asked how the reported liquidations from the FTX implosion compared to the actual figures. He stated that the actual liquidations were "at least" 4-6 times worse. Going forward, Zhou said Bybit will be more transparent with liquidation data.
Unreported liquidations after taxes. Source: Ben ZhouBTC has dropped below 92,000 USD in the Monday sell-off, but the entire market has been affected. The BTC sell-off has inspired similar sell-offs in Solana, and Ethereum has also hit a yearly low. If Zhou is correct and the taxes have liquidated 5 times the reported amount, this could be a very painful time for the market.
Earlier in January, Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, had predicted that BTC could drop to 70,000 USD in the current political climate, causing a minor financial crisis.
Ultimately, the crypto industry has experienced several severe bear markets. However, it always has the ability to recover. Bitcoin is still worth nearly double what it was 6 months ago, and these price drops exist in the context of significant growth. This price cycle may present buying opportunities for long-term holders as crypto will eventually recover.
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