2022 is on the verge of disappearing forever, and Live Bitcoin News is looking back one last time on the biggest digital currency stories of the year.
The Bitcoin Price
The biggest story of 2022 revolved around how poorly bitcoin did. What was once one of the largest and most worthwhile assets around sank to the bottom of a deep financial pit, and the currency has refused to get up. In November of last year, for example, the world’s number one digital currency by market cap rose to a whopping $68,000 per unit, the largest it’s ever been.
From there, however, the currency began to endure a series of dips that have taken it to its current price. At the time of writing, one unit of bitcoin has fallen into the mid-$16K range. That’s a loss of more than 70 percent. In addition, the entire crypto space has followed suit, and the arena has lost more than $2 trillion in overall valuation.
Bankruptcies Galore
Due to the crash of bitcoin and ongoing volatility and speculation, many crypto and blockchain-based companies endured horrific circumstances that caused them to engage in behaviors which made several traders raise their eyebrows in shock and disgust. Many investors didn’t know that these initial maneuvers were the beginning of something worse, and that many of these enterprises were either on their way out or were on the verge of entering bankruptcy.
Perhaps the biggest name to come to mind in this category is lending network Celsius, which in the summer, stirred fear in the hearts of traders after it halted all withdrawals as a means of dealing with the ongoing crypto price swirls. From there, however, the company was quick to file bankruptcy so that it could explore other options of staying in business and satisfying customers while avoiding the angry faces of lenders.
Many other digital currency companies took the same path. Among the other firms to crash and burn this year were Voyager Digital, Compute North, and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
FTX – The Fall of an Empire
In mid-November, the crypto world was dealt a harsh blow when FTX – one of the largest and most powerful digital currency trading platforms around – entered bankruptcy. The company was widely considered the golden boy of the crypto arena, and its founder – Sam Bankman-Fried – was lauded as a genius by many, but an investigation into the firm following its bankruptcy filings and the resignation of its head executive shows a company that has long been mismanaged.
Investor funds were played with and used to buy luxury homes in the Bahamas for company employees, while virtually no business structure could be uncovered by John Ray III, the lawyer called in to clean up FTX’s mess.
