BitMEX continues to field major criticism and even acrimony from traders who lost huge amounts of money in a wink crash involving altcoin XRP.

The crash, which occurred at fourteen.00 UTC on Feb. xiii, saw XRP/USD fall 60% from $0.33 to simply $0.13 — for two seconds.

XRP crashes on BitMEX

In that time, traders complain, measures designed to prevent liquidations of positions failed to activate, and BitMEX automatically erased their entire balances.

BitMEX is well known for offering trades with meaning leverage. In the case of XRP, traders are able to leverage by up to 50 times.

Post-obit the event, the company issued a statement defending its reaction, saying its platform was functioning as normal.

"Nosotros sympathise traders' frustration when prices movement quickly confronting their positions," a tweet read.

XRP/USD 5-day price chart

XRP/USD 5-day price chart. Source: BitMEX

At printing time, XRP/USD was back at $0.33, a seven-month high, having instantly rebounded after the sudden dip. Nonetheless, those afflicted had annihilation simply recovered.

"Not getting back a penny. Outright criminal," startup investor Marc de Koning wrote on Twitter.

"This ONLY occurred on Bitmex, nowhere else. All in a thing of seconds. No liquidity to back up the move."

CEO: users are "trading a turd"

BitMEX launched a new XRP production earlier this month. At the time, CEO Arthur Hayes appeared to joke about the coin's legitimacy.

Hours before the flash crash, he issued another mail nearly XRP price growth, which has topped 25% in the past few days alone. Hayes tweeted:

"CRipple the shorts. Pro Tip: the Buy and Sell buttons are both equally profitable regardless of whether or non you lot are trading a turd."

BitMEX's insurance fund, which the company says is "not intended for utilize" in situations such as the XRP issue, currently stands at 34,328 BTC ($352.2 million).