Bitcoin displayed at $0.02 in Revolut app malfunction, users say
The pricing malfunction appeared isolated to the platform and wasn't mirrored in wider cryptocurrency markets, indicating a data or display problem specific to Revolut.
Users of the Revolut application indicated that the platform momentarily showed Bitcoin prices crashing to approximately $39,900 on Friday, with certain traders also getting alerts indicating dramatic price fluctuations, including notifications that BTC had hit a 52-week low of just 2 cents.
On the social media platform X, users additionally described what appeared to be concurrent pricing errors affecting various cryptocurrencies, such as XRP and Solana (SOL), along with stablecoins including USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC).
The irregularities, which rapidly corrected themselves, seem to have been limited exclusively to the Revolut application, as aggregated data from multiple exchanges and derivatives markets showed no equivalent price disruption occurring during the identical timeframe.
Third-party pricing platforms like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko displayed no similar fluctuations in Bitcoin or other significant digital assets, indicating the event was most likely triggered by a pricing or data malfunction specific to the platform rather than a widespread market occurrence.
The company acknowledged it was encountering technical difficulties impacting certain features of the application and stated that its technical teams were actively developing a solution.
Experts point to data feed error or thin liquidity
Ranveer Arora, former PwC quantitative trading lead and co-founder of Altura.trade, informed Cointelegraph that two potential explanations are being discussed for the approximately 50% intraday price wick that appeared on Revolut's BTC chart.
"The first is a data feed error," he said. "It could be a corrupt tick pushed through Revolut's pricing system, briefly anchoring the 1D chart at around $39,900 before correcting," explaining further that since Revolut doesn't function as an exchange and obtains prices from third-party providers, even a single corrupted data point has the potential to generate this type of chart movement.
Arora went on to explain that another possible explanation involves a temporary liquidity void in an environment with shallow order books. "Revolut operates with limited liquidity depth compared to a full exchange," he said. Under such circumstances, a substantial sell order might momentarily deplete the available buy orders and create a pronounced downward price wick before prices stabilize.
Nevertheless, he observed that since no corresponding price movements appeared on other trading platforms, a data malfunction appears more probable, whereas evidence of similar trades on alternative venues would lend credence to the liquidity-gap theory.
Marc Tillement, director of blockchain price oracle Pyth Data Association, stated the incident underscores the vulnerability of price perception in fragmented data ecosystems, where "a single bad print can distort the perception of price very quickly," particularly in platforms oriented toward retail users.
He further noted that with markets becoming progressively more continuous and reliant on data, the dependability and origin of pricing infrastructure are becoming essential to maintaining market confidence, as market participants rely on transparent, auditable data frameworks to prevent misleading price signals.
A support communication from Revolut indicated the company was "currently experiencing issues affecting some of the app's functionalities" and that technical engineers were developing a resolution, requesting that users check its status page regularly for the latest information.
A representative from Revolut verified that the problem had been resolved, informing Cointelegraph it stemmed from a "service disruption at a third-party provider," which led to incorrect pricing being displayed on the platform. The representative stated the company is currently assessing the specific details of the service disruption.