ARIA token plunges over 90% in second flash crash

ARIA’s native token dropped more than 90% to $0.09 within about four hours of an April 14 peak of $1.12, marking the second sharp decline for the token in a week. The move prompted roughly $11.9 million in liquidations, according to liquidation-tracking services.

Price data show ARIA recovered to just above $0.11 after the low. The token was down about 86% over 24 hours and more than 90% from an April 13 peak of $1.18. Market capitalization fell from a Monday high near $215 million to about $20.8 million.

Volatility rose sharply during the drop, with measures of intraday volatility exceeding 100%. Liquidation trackers recorded about $11.9 million in total liquidations, more than $7.1 million of which were long positions. The largest single liquidation tied to ARIA was about $407,852.

A user on X, EmberCN, posted that eight wallets sold 45.64 million ARIA for 5.42 million USDT at an average price of $0.12. The post said the tokens had been withdrawn from an exchange to the blockchain as the token was rising and that the sales occurred in the early morning of April 14.

ARIA experienced a similar rapid drop on April 9, when the token fell from about $0.78 to $0.11 in roughly an hour. An auditing platform previously warned that without published source code the project lacked transparency.

ARIA is the native token for the gaming platform Aria. The project team and the exchanges involved have not posted public statements addressing the liquidation figures or the wallet-transfer and selling allegations.