On March 4, 2025, it was reported that hackers successfully laundered 499,000 ETH, amounting to $1.39 billion, stolen from Bybit over a span of 10 days. The laundering process, which started on February 22, 2025, and concluded on March 3, 2025, led to a significant 23% drop in the price of Ethereum, from $2,780 to $2,130. This price decline was observed from February 22 to March 3, 2025, as per data from CoinMarketCap (Source: CoinMarketCap, 2025). The hackers predominantly used THORChain for laundering, which saw an increase in trading volume to $5.9 billion and generated $5.5 million in fees during the same period (Source: THORChain Analytics, 2025). This event was sponsored by Bitget, as announced by @EmberCN on Twitter (Source: Twitter, @EmberCN, March 4, 2025).

The laundering of such a significant amount of ETH has had profound implications on the cryptocurrency market, particularly on Ethereum's trading pairs. The ETH/BTC trading pair saw a notable decrease in volume from an average of 35,000 BTC per day to 28,000 BTC per day between February 22 and March 3, 2025 (Source: Binance Trading Data, 2025). Similarly, the ETH/USDT pair experienced a decline in volume from $1.2 billion to $900 million over the same period (Source: Kraken Trading Data, 2025). This event has also led to heightened volatility, with the 30-day volatility index for ETH rising from 35% to 50% (Source: CryptoVolatility Index, 2025). Traders have been forced to adjust their strategies, with many opting for short positions to capitalize on the downward trend, as evidenced by a 40% increase in short positions on major exchanges like BitMEX (Source: BitMEX Position Data, 2025).

Technical analysis of Ethereum during this period revealed bearish signals. The 50-day moving average crossed below the 200-day moving average on February 25, 2025, signaling a 'death cross' and indicating further potential downside (Source: TradingView, 2025). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for ETH dropped from 70 to 30 between February 22 and March 3, 2025, suggesting the asset was oversold (Source: Coinigy, 2025). On-chain metrics also showed increased activity in large transactions, with over 10,000 ETH being moved in single transactions more frequently, indicating whale movements possibly related to the laundering (Source: Glassnode, 2025). Additionally, the volume of transactions on the Ethereum network increased by 20% during the laundering period, suggesting heightened market activity (Source: Etherscan, 2025).

Regarding AI-related tokens, the laundering event had a ripple effect. Tokens like SingularityNET (AGIX) and Fetch.AI (FET) experienced increased volatility, with AGIX dropping by 15% from $0.80 to $0.68 between February 22 and March 3, 2025, and FET declining by 12% from $1.20 to $1.06 over the same period (Source: CoinGecko, 2025). The correlation between ETH and these AI tokens was evident, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.75 for AGIX and 0.72 for FET (Source: CryptoQuant, 2025). This event led to a temporary shift in market sentiment, with investors moving away from high-risk AI tokens towards more stable assets. AI-driven trading volumes for these tokens saw a decrease of 10% during the period, as traders adjusted their strategies in response to the market turmoil (Source: Kaiko, 2025). The laundering event underscores the interconnectedness of the crypto market, where significant events in one segment can influence others, including AI-related cryptocurrencies.