Crypto markets are reeling after the implosion of the FTX exchange, now Yahoo Finance looks back over the past year in a young industry which was marred by corruption and fraudulent activity and asks how much they have dented investor’s faith. The combined market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies fell from a height of nearly $3tn (£2.7tn) in November 2021 to a current value of around $900bn (£728bn). Cryptocurrency value dwindled throughout 2022, caused by a sequence of bankruptcies after the dramatic crash of Terra’s UST algorithmic stablecoin in May 2022. Capital haemorrhaged from the combined crypto-market, with dexterous traders selling fast and parking gains in dollar-pegged stablecoins, such as USDC (USDC) and USDT (USDT). After a series of high-profile industry bankruptcies, faith in the cryptocurrency industry plunged, retail and institutional investors began cashing out funds, with redemptions of stablecoins for physical greenbacks rapidly increasing. However, those who withdrew funds were not just cautious investors trying to salvage what they could as the market nose-dived, the bad actors that contributed to the market turmoil were also sequestering large portions of wealth for themselves. From the low-key cyber-attack of the Wormhole cryptocurrency platform in February to the high-profile collapse of the FTX exchange in November, 2022 was a year of sensational scams, frauds, and crooked dealings.
Read more : Worst crypto scams and ‘coverups’ of 2022.
OODA has been compiling a comprehensive Web3 incident database based on our research to categorize what compromises are taking place as well as document the root causes that plague Cryptos, DeFi, NFTs, and Web3 in general. Tracking root causes provides comprehensive insights into how innovators can create robust cyber risk management approaches and reduce the potential for consequential attacks. You can access the OODA comprehensive Crypto Incident tracker here.
