FTX Stutters as Crypto Markets Tank Over CPI Numbers

CEO Sam Bankman-Fried responded: “the website did wonky auto-refreshing for a lot of people”

article-image

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Most traders point the finger at FTX’s API connection
  • Market volatility has a history of overloading crypto exchanges

When markets are volatile, crypto traders salivate like a husky after the dinner bell. If their exchange of choice experiences downtime right as they’re itching to place a trade, Twitter is a top place to vent.

Following the release of higher-than-expected US inflation numbers on Tuesday at 8:30 am ET, markets took a nosedive. Bitcoin, for instance, fell 6% over the next 25 minutes.

FTX customers began complaining of API outages and intermittent screen refreshes.

“FTX down again? Time for a new browser,” one user wrote, referring to previous interactions with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, in which he suggested laggy browsers were to blame.

Loading Tweet..

This time, Bankman-Fried threw on his customer service hat and sprung into action.

Loading Tweet..

“…I’m frustrated internally that we didn’t make this particular thing smoother earlier, I’ve woken up half our [developer] team to get things rolled out within the hour,” Bankman-Fried tweeted.

Some users reported being unable to use the platform for around a minute or receiving erroneous notifications of jurisdiction-based blocks.

Crypto exchanges have a history of struggling during brief periods of peak demand, sometimes even spurring legal action as upset traders band together to seek compensation.

An FTX spokesperson confirmed to Blockworks that the tech trouble was linked to the spike in volatility but did not characterize it as an outage.

“There was no downtime, the exchange was running the whole time. Some users who were accessing it via browser found that their webpage frequently refreshed, which made using the exchange slower and more cumbersome,” the spokesperson said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

An improving outlook on tariffs is positive for cryptocurrencies, but a sustained rally is going to take movement on the regulatory front

article-image

Apollo’s Christine Moy explained how the “velocity” of innovation in crypto has led to the evolution of RWAs

article-image

Warren Buffett attributes his astounding investment returns to only about a dozen “truly good decisions” he’s made

article-image

This report has been corrected.

article-image

Stablecoin revenue a bright spot for the crypto exchange in Q1, as trading revenue dropped 19% quarter over quarter

article-image

Creators are being told to “shill” their tokens and cash in on their “cults”