Every morning, it was the same refrain. At 10 a.m. sharp New York time, bitcoin was taking on water. As if a giant faucet opened above the market. Small traders saw their positions liquidated while some bigwigs had a feast. A highway for initiates, carefully asphalted. It lasted for months. Until, suddenly, everything stopped. And there, the crypto market exulted like a pardoned prisoner.
In brief
- Jane Street is the target of an insider trading complaint in the May 2022 collapse of Terra.
- On May 7, 2022, a wallet linked to Jane Street withdrew 85 million UST ten minutes after Terraform.
- Since the complaint was announced on February 23, the daily bitcoin dump at 10 a.m. has mysteriously stopped.
- The crypto market added $200 billion in capitalization in two days after this shutdown.
The strange metronome of bitcoin in New York time
First, there is this observation that has driven many people crazy in the trading world. For months, bitcoin experienced systematic selling pressure every day at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The opening of the American stock markets coincided with this strange event. BlockNews summed up the general frustration on X:
For months, BTC crashed within the first hour of US markets opening. The trigger triggered selloffs and capped rallies.
Traders theorized, suspected, accused. One firm in particular kept coming up in discussions: Jane Street, a high-frequency trading giant with $650 billion under management. His central role in ETFs and market-making made him the ideal culprit in the eyes of the crowd.
Yet no concrete evidence emerged to support these accusations. The 10 hour window is objectively a time of intense liquidity, where flows from ETFs, CME futures and institutional rebalancing naturally concentrate.
But the almost daily repetition of the phenomenon defied all purely technical explanations.
The Terra complaint that shook the colossus Jane Street
And then, the twist arrived on February 23, 2026. Todd Snyder, the administrator responsible for liquidating the remains of Terraform Labs, filed an explosive complaint against Jane Street. The accusation is serious: insider trading during the collapse of the stablecoin Terra in May 2022.
“ Jane Street abused her connections to rig the market in one of the most significant events in crypto history “said Snyder, quoted by the Wall Street Journal. The factual elements are disturbing.
On May 7, 2022, Terraform withdraws 150 million UST from the Curve pool. Ten minutes later, a wallet formally linked to Jane Street withdraws 85 million. The icing on the cake: a former employee of Terra, Bryce Pratt, then worked at Jane Street and maintained links with his ex-colleagues.
The chronology accuses heavily, even if Jane Street vigorously denies it. The firm calls the prosecution “opportunistic” and puts the blame back on Do Kwon, sentenced to 15 years in prison for his “multi-billion fraud.”
Crypto opinion mainly focuses on the timing more than the legal nuances.
200 billion later: the electroshock of the crypto-sphere
On February 25, the day after the judicial announcement, 10 a.m. arrived. Traders hold their collective breath. And there, general amazement: the scheduled sale does not take place. Instead, bitcoin takes off like a rocket, briefly touching $70,000. Ethereum jumps 13%, Solana 15%. The total capitalization of the crypto market rakes in $200 billion in just two days.
On X, the euphoria is indescribable. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas lets go a sentence that will go down in history :
The bogeyman has disappeared. That's the sentiment on Crypto Twitter today.
Bull Theory goes further with numbers that make you dizzy : “ Since Jane Street was sued, the 10am manipulation has stopped. This is CRAZY. Bitcoin adds 120 billion “.
For thousands of investors, “proof by absence” has become the only truth that matters.
The figures which support the thesis of manipulation
- 85 million: the UST amount withdrawn by Jane Street in 2022, ten minutes after Terraform;
- February 23, 2026: date of filing of the complaint against the trading giant;
- 200 billion: the capitalization added to the crypto market since the end of the dump;
- 15 years: the prison sentence of Do Kwon, founder of Terra;
- $68,383: BTC price at the time of writing.
Real manipulation or perfect coincidence? Difficult to decide definitively. One thing is certain: the crypto-sphere also appreciates more natural increases, those which owe nothing to conspiracy theories. Just yesterday, bitcoin climbed several points thanks to $258 million recently injected into American ETFs. Sometimes a simple incoming flow does more good than all the rumors in the world.
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