Key Takeaways:
- ARIA crashed over 90% from its April 14 peak of $1.12, marking its second major nosedive in one week.
- Volatility on Wednesday triggered $11.9 million in liquidations and hit Coinglass liquidation records.
- Manipulation claims on X suggest 8 wallets dumped 45.64 million ARIA, sparking pump-and-dump fears.
ARIA Token Nosedives Again
The native token of the gaming platform Aria nosedived for the second time in less than a week, moments after hitting a fresh all-time high. Unlike April 9, when the asset plunged by more than 80%, the token, ARIA, fell from its April 14 peak of $1.12 to $0.09 in just four hours. Although it recovered to trade just above $0.11, Coingecko data showed the token was still down 86% in 24 hours and more than 90% from its April 13 peak of $1.18.
The collapse caused ARIA’s market capitalization to drop from a Monday peak of $215 million to $20.8 million. According to Coinclass data, ARIA price volatility exceeded 115.51% on Wednesday, triggering the liquidation of more than $7.1 million in long positions. Total liquidations reached $11.9 million, with the largest single liquidation on the token valued at $407,852.
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, ARIA experienced similar price action last Thursday when the token suddenly plunged from its then-all-time high of $0.78 to $0.11 in one hour. At that time, the decline was linked to reports questioning the gaming platform’s unverified code. The auditing platform Sentinacle warned that without published code, the asset is essentially a black box. However, less than two days later, ARIA reclaimed its April 9 peak before rallying to a new all-time high.
The latest decline has again fueled allegations of a pump-and-dump scheme. One social media user claimed a suspected manipulator dumped 45.64 million tokens for 5.42 million USDT on Tuesday, causing the price to tank. The user alleged the tokens were withdrawn from Gate.io to the blockchain via eight wallets during the early stages of the token’s rise.
EmberCN wrote on X that those eight wallets collectively dumped the tokens in the early morning of April 14. The user noted that 45.64 million ARIA were sold for 5.42 million USDT at an average price of $0.12. In addition to manipulation allegations, claims surfaced on social media that certain platforms were blocking traders from shorting ARIA during its descent or taking long positions during its recovery.
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