Harmony Exploit Puts Altcoins Under Pressure, Bitcoin Stays Stable
Harmony’s exploit hit the ONE token hard, while traders are mainly watching the U.S. CPI data. Bitcoin stayed relatively stable, but altcoins came under extra pressure.
Key Takeaways
- Harmony confirmed an exploit in which about 4 billion ONE tokens were minted, equal to roughly 26% of the circulating supply.
- The attack pushed ONE down as much as 40% and put extra pressure on altcoins, while Bitcoin stayed stable around $63,900.
- Investors were waiting on Wednesday for the U.S. CPI data, while the Fear and Greed index stood at 38 and shorts dominated the derivatives market.
Crypto markets stayed unusually calm on Wednesday, while traders dealt with a protocol exploit and looked ahead to the U.S. inflation data that often sets the tone for risk assets. Bitcoin held steady, but the attack on Harmony added extra pressure to sentiment across altcoins.
Harmony Reports Major Exploit
Harmony, a layer-1 blockchain network for DeFi protocols and marketplaces, confirmed that it was hit by an exploit during early Asian trading. An attacker minted about 4 billion ONE tokens through empty blocks, equal to roughly 26% of the token’s circulating supply.
According to market data, about 2.8 billion of those tokens were quickly sent to exchanges. That pushed ONE down as much as 40% and sent the token to a new low. For crypto investors, the key point is that Harmony had already been targeted before: the Horizon Bridge was drained in June 2022, in an attack that cost about $100 million (€86.7 million) at the time.
Market Waits for CPI Data
Broader markets barely moved ahead of the U.S. CPI release for July, which is scheduled for 12:30 UTC. Brent crude was trading around $90 (€78) per barrel after fresh attacks on shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and a U.S. strike on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman renewed supply concerns.
Bitcoin took all of that in stride and was up 0.23% since midnight UTC, trading around $63,900 (€55,400). The Fear and Greed index was at 38, pointing to a cautious market. In the derivatives market, overall activity was basically flat, but positioning did shift: takers turned bearish and shorts accounted for 51.36% of activity.
Why This Matters
The mix of a fresh exploit and cautious macro trading shows how sensitive the crypto market still is to both security incidents and U.S. inflation data. Especially for altcoins, an incident on one network can quickly spill over into broader sentiment, while Bitcoin is still acting mostly as a wait-and-see market barometer. That makes the next few hours important for European crypto followers who want to understand why liquidity and risk appetite can shift so fast.
