Tomorrow is again the anniversary of the 519 incident. As an old leek who experienced that storm, the scene that day is still vivid in my mind. I still remember how many people were wiped out in waves of liquidation; that feeling of huge swings and exhilarating highs and lows was truly unforgettable. But now, with the big coin heavily controlled by Wall Street, it's probably hard to see that kind of scene again.

Speaking of the 519 incident, it was truly an unprecedented crash in the cryptocurrency market in 2021. Within just over a week, the dreams of millions of investors becoming rich overnight were shattered, and since then, people have started to seriously think about the market's regulation, risks, and what the future holds.

Everyone knows the trigger at that time was Elon Musk. He was initially a staunch supporter of cryptocurrencies; Tesla invested $1.5 billion to buy Bitcoin in Q1 2021 and announced it would accept Bitcoin payments. He often hyped meme coins like Dogecoin on Twitter, driving the entire market into a frenzy. But no one expected that in mid-May, he would suddenly do a 180-degree turn. On May 12, he suddenly announced that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin payments, citing concerns over Bitcoin mining's high coal consumption and environmental pollution. This one statement immediately caused Bitcoin to drop from $57,000 to $46,000. A few days later, he hinted on Twitter that Tesla might sell its Bitcoin holdings, causing market confidence to collapse completely.

But Musk's remarks were just the surface trigger. The real problem was that the entire market had already accumulated too much bubble. From the beginning of the year to mid-April, Bitcoin surged from $30,000 to $64,000, an increase of over 100%. Mainstream coins like Ethereum and Litecoin also doubled or tripled. Emerging altcoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin saw prices jump from a few cents to several dollars, with gains of thousands of times. These surges had no fundamental support; they were bubbles formed purely by social media hype and speculative chasing.

Adding to that, China's regulatory signals also arrived at that time. On May 18, the three major associations jointly issued a notice banning virtual currency trading. Inner Mongolia also set up a platform for mining reports. These signals were interpreted by the market as crackdowns, triggering panic selling.

By the early morning of May 19, the 519 event was truly triggered. The market plunged into a frenzy of decline, with Bitcoin dropping from $43,000 to $30,000, a 30% fall. Ethereum fell from $3,300 to $1,900, a 42% drop. Other coins also fell more than 30%, some even over 50%. Exchanges were overwhelmed, many people couldn't close their positions, and could only watch their assets shrink. The market's fear index soared to 0.8, greed index dropped to 10, and the entire atmosphere was one of despair.

However, starting in the afternoon, institutions and big players began to buy the dip, and the market gradually stabilized. By the morning of May 20, Bitcoin rebounded to $40,000, and Ethereum to $2,800. The entire market experienced a full cycle of warning, trigger, recovery, and adjustment.

Looking back at the 519 incident now, it was truly a classic market crisis. Emotional markets, bubble bursts, regulatory shocks, liquidity crises—all erupted on that day. That’s why many old leeks now say that the 519 incident is the most unforgettable memory in the crypto market.