There’s always something going on in the crypto space — and this year was no exception. From Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX to BlackRock, CZ and Binance, here are 12 top stories from 2023 to enjoy this Christmas.
In March, the USDC stablecoin significantly depegged from the U.S. dollar, dropping to as low as $0.88 following Circle's announcement of holding $3.3 billion in reserves at the failed Silicon Valley Bank. The disclosure prompted a significant USDC sell-off, with investors turning to other stablecoins like Tether’s USDT or exiting into fiat, leading to a 15% drop in market cap within 24 hours.
| Asset Class | Amount Lost (USD) | }
|---|---|
| Staked Ether (stETH) | $136 Million |
| USDC | $34 Million |
| Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) | $19 Million |
| DAI Stablecoin | $8.7 Million |
The attack exploited vulnerabilities linked to a bug fix implemented following a whitehat hacker's report and caused the Euler token price to drop around 70%. Despite the $197 million loss, most funds were later recovered after the exploiter accepted a bounty. Exploits on Multichain and Poloniex were also noted as among the year's largest.
"Swift reportedly questioned if FTX was selling unregistered securities, a step most other celebrities, including Shaquille O’Neal and Tom Brady, didn't take." — Lawyer Adam Moskowitz on due diligence.
Lawyer Adam Moskowitz highlighted Taylor Swift's cautious approach during an episode of The Scoop podcast. However, New York Magazine later reported that Swift had actually signed on to be an FTX sponsor, and it was former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried who decided to kill the deal, leaving Swift’s team reportedly disappointed.