The main crypto events that will dominate in 2023

What an exciting year it has been for the crypto industry!

In the year At the end of 2023, the cryptocurrency space has had its share of battles and triumphs, all of which are still growing, but continue to establish an industry that has managed to gain a significant place in the global financial sector.

This year, regulators have cracked down on key players in the market, one of the largest and most influential CEOs has pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and the rumors surrounding the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) have intensified after the applications of major financial institutions. .

We now proceed to explore some of the major events that made headlines in 2023.

The bank that influenced Crypto companies has collapsed

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank and Silvergate, which own crypto businesses and tech startups, all fell apart within a week in March in what was described as one of the biggest failures to rock the US banking sector in March.

It all started with Silvergate Bank, which reported a $1 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is struggling to stay afloat following the collapse of one-time cryptocurrency exchange giant FTX. Days later, the financial institution announced the closure of the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) – a fast settlement service that allowed crypto customers to make payments 24/7 – saying the move was a “risk-based decision”.

Silvergate eventually went into voluntary liquidation, though it was liquidated. During the banking crisis, crypto heavyweights such as Huobi and Coinbase cut ties with Silvergate. A few days later, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation shut down SVB, which largely serves the technology industry and became the largest bank in the United States after Washington Mutual in 2008.

After depositors withdrew large amounts of money, SVB experienced a banking crisis. In addition, banking regulators shut down the crypto-friendly signature bank, which was panicked by customers after SVB's collapse, leading to massive share sales and massive outflows.

Meanwhile, the failures have had a significant impact on crypto companies, one of the biggest customers is Circle. The USDC stablecoin issuer has revealed that it holds more than $3 billion in cash reserves at various US financial institutions, including SVB, SVB, Silvergate and Signature Banks.

Due to the collapse of SVB, the USDC was temporarily replaced. Other crypto companies exposed to SVB and Signature include Ripple, BlockFi, Coinbase and Paxos.

Inscriptions crazy

Originally launched on the Bitcoin network, Mania script found its way to the Ethereum and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains.

Texts, to put it simply, are data files embedded on the blockchain. The fad started on the Bitcoin blockchain with Bitcoin Ordinals, similar to Non-Funk Tokens (NFTs) that can be charted on Satoshi – the smallest denomination of Bitcoin (BTC).

The craziness of the regulations has fueled a surge in transactions on the Bitcoin network. But this trend has led to network congestion with high fees.

Meanwhile, scripts have moved beyond the Bitcoin network since November when developers found ways to deploy scripts on Ethereum and other blockchains. Transcripts on Ethereum and EMV-compatible blockchains are included in transaction call data.

According to data from Etherscan in December, the increase in transaction activity on EVM chains was mainly driven by texts.

However, Bitcoin Ordinals, in particular, have not been without criticism, with top experts dismissing the trend as spam and a scam. Bitcoin Core developer Luke Daschger claims that the creators of Ordinals are exploiting a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain. The developer believes that turns are an attack on Bitcoin.

Binance and Coinbase face SEC lawsuit

In June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) went after the two biggest cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance and Coinbase. According to the regulator, each of the two companies was charged within 24 hours of the charges, both firms breached securities laws and were treated as securities and offered for commercial use.

However, Binance and Coinbase denied the SEC's claims, with both exchanges seeking to dismiss the regulator's allegations. Binance.US, the US affiliate of international exchange Binance, has restructured its workforce as the company anticipates a long and expensive legal battle with the SEC.

Ripple wins over the SEC

A month after the SEC filed charges against Binance and Coinbase, another crypto company involved in a lengthy legal battle with the regulator scored a major victory in July.

In the year In December 2020, the SEC charged Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP token, with offering $1.3 billion in unregistered securities through the sale of XRP. Ripple and its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, have fought back against the allegations, saying the company did not commit any crimes.

A partial victory for Ripple came in July 2023 after Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP sales did not violate securities laws on public crypto exchanges. However, Judge Torres said the sale of XRP directly to sophisticated investors violated securities laws.

Ripple scored another victory in October after Judge Torres rejected the SEC's appeal of the judge's decision in July. A third victory for the company was achieved in the same month, after the security firm dropped the case against the CEOs of Ripple – Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen.

BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF file

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with nearly $10 trillion in assets, made headlines after the company filed for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the SEC in June. Following BlackRock's filing, other companies such as Fidelity Digital, WisdomTree, Invesco and VanEck resubmitted their applications.

The SEC has yet to approve any Bitcoin ETF in the United States, with the regulator only supporting Bitcoin futures ETFs. However, there have been renewed hopes for a possible BTC ETF, with reports suggesting that discussions between issuers and the SEC have advanced.

Meanwhile, ETF applicants, investors and the broader crypto community have set their sights on a deadline between January 5 and 10, 2024, hoping that the United States will finally have a bitcoin ETF product in place after years of delays and rejections.

Worldcoin: The Crypto Iris-scanning project

Worldcoin, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launched the WLD token in July 2023. However, the project has faced criticism over its iris scanning feature, which users practice to earn WLD tokens.

Regulatory authorities in France, the UK, Germany and Argentina have launched investigations into the project, citing privacy concerns. On the other hand, Kenya has blocked Worldcoin activities in the country.

Recent reports have suggested that in an unregulated regulatory process, WorldCoin has quietly revoked Orbon's credentials to offline users in India, Brazil and France. Meanwhile, the project has expanded to Singapore, allowing users to “verify their unique humanity with the Orb.”

Grayscale victory over the SEC

After losing to Ripple, the SEC suffered another loss in a legal case involving asset management firm Greyscale. The latter accused the commission of rejecting Greyscale Bitcoin Trust's (GBTC) request to convert into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

In August, a US court ordered the regulator to reconsider Greyscale's application, a decision that served as a major victory for the crypto company. However, some experts at the time noted that the victory does not mean automatic support for the spot Bitcoin ETF.

Sam Bankman-Fried: From Crypto Darling to Criminal

In the year November is arguably one of the most eventful months of 2023 for the cryptocurrency industry. Sam Bankman-Fried, better known as SBF, whose company FTX collapsed in November 2022, was indicted on seven charges, including fraud and conspiracy, nearly a year later.

Following the collapse of FTX, Banman-Fried stepped down as CEO of the crypto exchange. After this, the former boss was arrested and extradited to America.

After a month-long trial that began in October 2023, a 12-person jury found SBF guilty on all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 120 years in prison. After the guilty verdict, Bankuman-Fried's defense attorney said his client was innocent and would continue to prosecute.

The SBF's sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024, with a second trial scheduled for the same month. However, according to a recent letter Bloomberg reported, banker Fried will not face a second trial, saying US Attorney Lewis Kaplan intends to drop the second set of charges, some of which charge the former entrepreneur with bank fraud. , trying to bribe foreign officials and unauthorized money transfer business.

CZ going down and Binance fined $4 billion

Another major event occurred in November, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by market capitalization, Binance, paid a fine of $4.3 billion in an agreement with United States regulators.

The company, which has been facing regulatory issues from various watchdogs, among them the SEC, has paid the highest. In addition, he pleaded guilty to various charges, including knowingly violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, also pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, agreed to resign and pay a personal fine of $50 million.

Meanwhile, CZ, who resigned as chairman of the board of directors at Binance.US, will remain in the United States until his sentencing on February 23, 2024, when the United States District Court ruled in favor of the government, saying he was a flight risk.

Binance's former head of regional markets outside the US, Richard Teng, has become the company's new CEO.

Major hacks in 2023

In the year While hacking incidents in 2023 recorded a smaller volume compared to 2022, there were still some notable hacks that occurred this year.

DeFi Lending Protocol Euler Financial lost $197 million in customer assets in a sudden credit attack in March. In April, the project announced that the attacker had returned all recoverable funds.

Crypto exchange Poloniex also fell victim to a hacking incident, which caused the platform to lose $125 million in various assets, including Ether (ETH), USDT, USDC and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Another project, Mixin Network, suffered a $200 million loss in September after attackers exploited a vulnerability in the cloud service provider's database. Shortly after the attack, Mixin Group offered a $20 million bug bounty, demanding the hacker return the stolen funds.

Fingers crossed for 2024

With 2024 just around the corner, the industry seems optimistic about a crypto bull run. There have already been massive Bitcoin (BTC) price predictions for 2024, which analysts and stakeholders believe will be driven by the acceptance of Bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event.

Bitwise recently predicted that the price of BTC will reach a new all-time high of $80,000 by 2024. Other predictions put the value of the crypto asset at $100,000 or more by 2024.

It remains to be seen how the new year will shape the crypto industry, with various activities and speculations, but we hope that the leap year will be good for the market.