Though the cryptocurrency industry is still technically in its infancy, it’s gone through several booms and busts since its inception. 2021 was an amazing year for crypto. Doge went to the moon, blockchain technology garnered mainstream media attention, and bitcoin’s value soared to its highest point. 2022, on the other hand, was easily the worst year for crypto since the great crash in 2018. And, most likely, the worst year for the industry ever. So, how bad were the crypto losses in 2022?
No one had worse crypto losses than SBF in 2022.
You can’t mention crypto and the year 2022 in the same breath without talking about Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and FTX. The collapse of one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges sparked a meltdown that wiped out billions from the market.
Now SBF faces up to 115 years in prison for fraud, money laundering, and violating campaign finance laws. As a result, he’s completely wiped out his $24 billion fortune, according to Forbes. But that only puts him at the second-highest loss for crypto billionaires in the last year!
Along with SBF, FTX’s co-founder Gary Wang lost $5.9 billion in the exchange’s collapse. In addition, he pled guilty to several federal fraud charges along with former Alameda Research co-CEO Caroline Ellison. Bankman-Fried, on the other hand, pled not guilty to all charges.
Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who more or less triggered FTX’s inevitable demise with a few tweets, lost nearly $60 billion. Now, Forbes reports Binance is “bleeding assets,” and the exchange has lost $12 billion since the collapse of FTX.
The first half of 2022 wasn’t any better for the industry.
Remember the long-forgotten days of May 2022 when the Terra USD stablecoin (UST) collapsed? The first crash of the year took several crypto hedge funds, including Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital, and Celsius.
The Terraform Labs founder and CEO, Do Kwon, ran from authorities in September after Interpol issued a red notice. The latest reports show he’s hiding out somewhere in Serbia. Kwon still maintains an active presence on Twitter, despite running from authorities.
