The Kraken crypto exchange reported a bug that allowed some users to buy bitcoin (BTC) for $8,000 while others managed to sell for $12,000. The XBT/USD pair thus recorded a takeaway of as much as $2,000 compared to the real market value.
Kraken is one of the most famous and used exchanges in the world. The platform is growing a lot across the cryptocurrency market. It recently acquired the startup Crypto Facilities which operates a regulated futures trading platform. It is actively supported by industry leaders such as Money Partners Group, Blockchain Capital and Digital Currency Group. The company has expanded over the years by purchasing Cryptowatch, Coinsetter and Clevercoin, three of the world’s largest crypto exchanges and information hubs.
Bug on Kraken, $12,000 bitcoin
The incident was confirmed by Kraken on Twitter.
1/3 Yesterday a test of an unreleased advanced order type encountered a bug which resulted in the order's prices being matched against the wrong side of the book. Some clients bought from the tester at $8000 and others sold at $12000 without clearing the intervening liquidity. pic.twitter.com/iG3sEPCVXS
— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) September 14, 2019
The bug originated during the testing phase of a new type of order that was not yet available to everyone. It was a so-called matching bug, orders were matched with the wrong side of the order book. This bug triggered stop losses that were successfully executed at the best market value.
The company was criticised for this serious situation but CEO Jesse Powell defended himself by saying that the company performs thousands of hours of testing and searching for bugs is part of the process of perfecting the algorithms. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts, it is impossible to find them all.
“You’re arguing for going straight from test env to full public rollout without a production limited beta? You have to go to prod at some point. This particular feature had already seen thousands of tests over several months. This just reinforces our careful, staged approach”,wrote Jesse Powell.
The lucky traders will be able to keep the money they have obtained by selling for $12,000 or the bitcoins they have bought for $8,000 while the beta testers who have suffered losses will be refunded.
