In 2022, once-lauded heroes became villains, and the really evil thrived. Cryptocurrency has been plagued by hackers and examples of poor management this year; who of the thousands of players in this field has committed the most severe fouls, and who has emerged victorious?
We should investigate this.
WINNERS
- Lazarus
Lazarus, a North Korean hacking outfit, was suspected of being responsible for the year’s two largest crypto hacks, the $540 million Ronin Bridge hack in April and the $100 million Harmony hack in June, both of which occurred on crypto bridges. For years, it allegedly focused on Japanese businesses, which only helped it stay at the top of the crypto world’s threat list.
- Binance
After FTX’s demise in 2022, Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao emerged as crypto industry leaders ten times stronger than before. When Sam Bankman-Fried came groveling to Zhao with his cap in hand, Zhao considered saving FTX by purchasing the company as he was the only one with the financial means to do so.
However, after mulling the acquisition for a few days, Zhao pulled a Marcus Aurelius and gave it the cold shoulder, allowing his biggest adversary to perish and allowing him to further consolidate his dominance.
- Gary Gensler
Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has successfully convicted more fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs) this year than ever before, recovering tens of millions of dollars for investors. When the SEC reached a settlement with Kim Kardashian over the EthereumMax scandal, Gensler was able to use her publicity to boost his own bid for the Treasury Secretary position.
His supervisors surely noted his year of accomplishment.
LOSERS
- Craig Wright
After more court defeats and additional damage to his reputation, Craig Wright was once again a loser in 2022. His “victory” against Peter McCormack in a libel case cost him £1 and cost both sides millions of dollars in legal fees. The judge also called him out for using “deliberately false” proof. Edward Snowden poked fun at him, his Pineapple Hack case was dismissed before trial, and he lost a libel case in Norway against Hodlonaut.
- Do Kwon
Kwon spent months bragging on Twitter about how much money he made with his Terra USD stablecoin technology and how much wiser he was than everyone else. The entire cryptocurrency market fell in June, taking $40 billion in investor funds with it.
Due to his careless behavior, Kwon is now wanted by Singaporean police and is the subject of numerous lawsuits.
- Kyle Davies and Su Zhu
The crypto wave was ridden magnificently by Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, the twin founders of the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, who made billions and accepted investments from various crypto startups. Zhu gained notoriety for his’supercycle theory, which predicted that the value of cryptocurrencies will rise indefinitely.
However, Davies and Zhu were hit so hard by the TerraUSD/LUNA crash in May that they were forced to liquidate the company in June, leaving $3 billion in claims and making Zhu’s arrogance look almost as awful as that of Do Kwon in the process.
- Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried’s $32 billion FTX empire was proven to have been constructed on sand rather than records, and its spectacular collapse resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in customer monies.
Partially due to the rapidity with which it unfolded and partially due to the fact that many people had considered Bankman-Fried to be one of the ‘good guys,’ FTX’s demise was the biggest crypto story of the year. It found out he was a horrible CEO who placed billions of dollars in customer assets at risk through sloppy bookkeeping and the transfer of funds between the exchange and its sister company, Alameda Research.
U.S. officials have accused Bankman-Fried of numerous financial crimes, and his extradition to stand trial for these offenses is all but guaranteed to be approved by early next year. Part one of Sam Bankman-Fried’s demise began in 2022, and subsequent parts will be just as riveting.
Which Companies Will Thrive In 2023, And Which Will Fail?
There’s no disputing that 2022 was a horrific year. Many of the above will feel the repercussions of their actions in the coming year, and some will continue to feel them in the years to come.
We can only pray that 2023 brings a shorter list of losers and more tolerable winners than 2022 did.