Bitcoin has delivered some of the biggest gains in financial history, but its journey has been far from smooth. The story of Bitcoin crashes provides important context for understanding these dramatic ups and downs. According to a report, over the last decade, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin has survived exchange failures, regulatory crackdowns, global market panics, and the collapse of some of the industry’s biggest companies.
The biggest crash in Bitcoin’s history occurred when hackers compromised accounts at Mt. Gox, then the largest Bitcoin exchange. The price briefly crashed by nearly 99%, falling to just a few cents.
A major Bitcoin Ponzi scheme known as Bitcoin Savings & Trust collapsed after collecting roughly 700,000 BTC from investors. The fallout triggered a 56% decline in Bitcoin’s price.
As Bitcoin surged above $260, Mt. Gox struggled to handle record trading activity and DDoS attacks. Trading disruptions caused panic selling, sending Bitcoin down nearly 80%.
Bitcoin plunged around 40% after China’s central bank prohibited financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, marking one of the first major regulatory shocks for the market.
Months after technical issues and withdrawal problems, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy and revealed that approximately 850,000 BTC had been lost. Bitcoin fell more than 50% in the aftermath.
After reaching nearly $20,000 in late 2017, Bitcoin entered a brutal bear market. Regulatory concerns, exchange hacks, and the collapse of the ICO boom pushed prices down more than 80%.
The global market panic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic sent Bitcoin from nearly $8,000 to below $4,000 in a matter of hours, wiping out almost half its value.
Bitcoin dropped roughly 44% after China intensified its crackdown on crypto mining and transactions. Concerns over Bitcoin’s environmental impact added further pressure.
The collapse of TerraUSD and LUNA erased tens of billions of dollars from the crypto market. Shortly after, Celsius froze withdrawals, triggering fears of a wider industry contagion and pushing Bitcoin below $22,000.
The bankruptcy of FTX became crypto’s “Lehman moment.” Bitcoin fell from around $20,500 to nearly $15,600, while the broader crypto market lost roughly $236.7 billion in just two days.
More recently, Bitcoin faced another sharp correction in 2024 as global markets reacted to the unwinding of the Japanese yen carry trade, briefly sending the cryptocurrency below $50,000.
In 2025, after climbing above $100,000 and setting fresh record highs, Bitcoin experienced several pullbacks as investors locked in profits and markets adjusted to changing economic conditions.
The 2011 Mt. Gox flash crash remains the largest percentage drop in Bitcoin’s history, with the price briefly collapsing by nearly 99%. However, many investors view the Terra-Luna collapse and the bankruptcy of FTX in 2022 as the most damaging period for the crypto industry, as they wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars in market value, triggered a wave of bankruptcies, and pushed Bitcoin nearly 77% below its all-time high.
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