Top cryptocurrencies saw a sudden price downturn Friday afternoon as total liquidations edged toward half a billion within an hour.

It's not clear exactly what caused the sudden dip in crypto market performance. The drop in prices could be due to events not directly related to the cryptocurrency market, such as the conflict between Iran and Israel. Earlier Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters he expects Iran will attack Israel “sooner than later.”

Total cryptocurrency liquidations hit $466.5 million from about 2:00 p.m. ET to 3:00 p.m. ET Friday, according to the crypto liquidations tracker CoinGlass. Of this, long liquidations hit $417.7 million and short liquidations reached $50.6 million.

CoinGlass finds that within the past 24 hours, total liquidations reached $858.15 …