Ether (ETH) slid to a 13-month low near $1,540 on Friday as risk-off sentiment seeped through crypto markets. The move came amid a cascade of derivative-driven liquidity drains and fresh security worries that have kept bulls on the back foot even as ETH trades well below its late-2025 highs. In parallel, a critical vulnerability in Zcash’s shielded pool—exposed by AI-driven tooling—fed fears of broader contagion across blockchains and DeFi protocols.