Friday’s sell-off triggered what Bitwise portfolio manager Jonathan Man called the worst liquidation event in crypto history, with more than $20 billion wiped out as liquidity vanished and forced deleveraging took hold, in an article on X published Saturday.

Perpetual futures — “perps” in trading shorthand — are cash-settled contracts with no expiry that mirror spot via funding payments, not delivery. Profits and losses net against a shared margin pool, which is why, in stress, venues may need to reallocate exposure quickly to keep books balanced.

Man, who is the lead portfolio manager of the Bitwise Multi-Strategy Alpha Fund, said bitcoin fell 13% from peak to trough in a single hour, while losses in long-tail tokens were far steeper — he added that ATOM “fell to virtually zero” on some

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