2023: The Year of Bitcoin
It begins with Bitcoin...
2022 was one CRAZY year!
The Axie Infinity hack in March led to $625 million in stolen assets.
I gotta give the team credit…
There's not too many companies that can survive a $625 million hack. 🦾🦾🦾
Bloomberg Crypto and the rest wanted to count them out.
My response: That Axie Infinity community is just DAMN relentless!
Two months later… the value of Terra's UST and LUNA cryptocurrencies plummeted by about $45 billion in just three days.
So what really happened? 🤔
Luna and TerraUSD (UST) are sister coins on the Terra blockchain network, with Luna being the network's native cryptocurrency used for transactions. UST is an algorithmic stablecoin, backed by Luna. The intention was for it to differ from stablecoins backed by fiat such as USDC or Tether.
Luna's value skyrocketed in early 2021, creating many crypto millionaires, but crashed in May 2022 due to the instability of UST and its connection to the Anchor Protocol.
The strange part about this was that Luna’s stablecoin went down as well. 😲
The Luna crash caused an estimated loss of $300 billion in value across the entire cryptocurrency market and many individuals suffered financial hardships as a result.
On June 12th, Celsius Network halted withdrawals, and then around July, the platform, one of the top "DeFi" crypto lending platforms, declared bankruptcy.
Users were locked out of their funds and were unable to withdraw, resulting in $4.7 billion vanishing into thin air.
According to the bankruptcy filing, Celsius has more than 100,000 creditors, a portion of whom extended loans to the platform without any collateral.
Eight months later, users are still unable to withdraw their funds but there is still hope!
Wait…so you're telling me that wasn’t the worst thing that happened in 2022???
Have you seen this basketball arena before?
Have you heard of this guy?
They made it big. Or so we thought.
With the chance to represent crypto in a Superbowl ad, they had the opportunity to reach millions of viewers and potentially take us to the moon. 🙈
Well, that’s not exactly what happened…
The founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), became a celebrity in the crypto world after he created the exchange in 2019.
He even held titles such as “crypto king”. 🤣
SBF became popular due to high-profile acquisitions working with celebrities like Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Shaq, and Kevin O'Leary to endorse FTX.
In January 2022, FTX raised $400 million, bringing its valuation to $32 billion. A few months later, on November 11, 2022, the company went bankrupt because it was unable to meet $6 billion in withdrawal requests.
The FTX crash had a significant impact on the overall crypto market. In the aftermath of the FTX meltdown, the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies experienced a sharp decline.
Source: Coinstats
OUCH!!!
This was due to the loss of confidence in the entire crypto space, as investors were left wondering if other major players in the industry could suffer a similar fate.
What are the solutions to these issues?
Well…it begins with Bitcoin
Rootstock is a sidechain that operates alongside the Bitcoin blockchain, enabling smart contract functionality and interoperability with Ethereum. It helps to bridge security and transparency by allowing users to move their tokens between EVM-compatible networks, without having to rely on a centralized exchange.
This also enables the development of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, such as lending and borrowing platforms, that can leverage the security and scalability of the Bitcoin network.
Overall, Rootstock can help to enhance the functionality and value proposition of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, by providing a more efficient and secure way to transact and interact with smart contracts.
I hosted a Twitter Spaces today with Diego Guitterez, co-founder of Rootstock and Tim Paymans, VP of Product at IOV Labs.
TUNE IN!!!!!
(Missed it?…It’s recorded. So you may come back and listen anytime! 🎧)
