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Crypto Flashbacks & Flash Forward: 10 Events in 2022 + 10 Trends in 2023

Crypto Flashbacks & Flash Forward: 10 Events in 2022 + 10 Trends in 2023
  • It was an eventful 2022 for the crypto world
  • But what’s in store for in 2023?

The cryptocurrency market has certainly seen its fair share of excitement over the years. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have garnered a lot of attention due to their potential to disrupt traditional financial systems and their ability to provide a decentralized and secure way to transfer value.

There have been many developments in the cryptocurrency space over the years, including the launch of new cryptocurrencies, the emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and the increasing mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.

By now, you would agree with me that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile and unpredictable, and it’s not uncommon for prices to fluctuate significantly. Apart from that, many unfortunate events happened.

10 Crypto Events That Happened in 2022

1. The LUNA Empire Collapsed

84 million dollars leveraged a 40 billion financial empire, UST collapsed. The collapse started when UST de-pegging and the market’s extreme panic caused massive withdrawal. The collapse of one of the world’s largest public chains, Terra, fell with it, and it took only two days.

The beginning of the historical decline of cryptocurrency started right at that moment. “If LUNA fails, it will be the failure of cryptocurrency.” This was the kind of headline we saw in the mainstream media during that period. The downfall process is familiar to many financial folks, similar to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and Lehman Brothers in 2007.

2. Top Hedge Fund, Three Arrows Capital Goes Bankrupt

This is still an ongoing TV series. Right after LUNA’s collapse, all eyes are on Three Arrows Capital (3AC). 3AC has borrowed from almost every major lender, from BlockFi, Genesis to Celsius. The fall of 3AC can be traced to the collapse in May of UST. They told Wall Street Journal that it has invested $200m in LUNA.

3. Crypto Lehman Brothers Moment: FTX Insolvency Hits Markets

A disaster with no survivors is how I described this incident. SBF and FTX have reached almost every corner of the industry in just three years, and their demise almost uprooted the whole industry.

It all began when SBF intervened to save some other cryptocurrency exchanges from impending doom due to rising interest rates, completely unaware that his own cryptocurrency exchange would suffer the same fate not long after. These transactions, which also implicated SBF’s trading company Alameda Research, caused the exchange to incur several losses.

Binance boss CZ called out SBF, users started withdrawing from FTX, and the rest was history. At that point in time, the market found a liquidity gap of up to $8 billion in FTX. FTX filed for insolvency restructuring, and the plot flipped swiftly without allowing anyone a chance to breathe.

The collapse of FTX has had an atomic bomb chain reaction, fusing a series of insolvency and FUD events. The former crypto giant was like a domino, and the entire crypto world was shrouded in panic. The failure of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November resulted in the lending arm of Genesis being compelled to halt redemptions. Since then, Genesis has been striving to raise money or negotiate a deal with creditors. BlockFi Files for Chapter 11 Protection, highlighting the need for crypto controls. Many other companies were affected.

4. Ethereum Successfully Completed Merger of Mainnet and Beacon Chain, End of Mining Era

Following an eight-year wait, at 14:43 on September 15, when the mainnet and beacon chains successfully merged, Ethereum signalled the end of Ethereum Proof of Work (PoW) and the full switch to Proof of Stake (PoS).

“The Merge” is a crucial turning point for the Ethereum ecosystem. Ethereum’s vision continues, and there are more milestones to be achieved as per their plans published on November 5.

5. Cryptocurrency Donation in Ukraine

At the end of February, the Russian-Ukrainian war started. This event was not directly related to cryptocurrency but more of an uncertainty to the global macro environment. However, after Ukraine announced the introduction of cryptocurrency donations and released its donation address, things changed.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government and an NGO supporting the military have received more than 120,000 crypto donations totalling $63.8 million. This contains a CryptoPunk NFT valued over $200,000 and a $5.8 million gift from Polkadot creator Gavin Wood. Many questioned how this was executed, the airdrop plan and the NFT sale. But to me, I witnessed by far one of the most significant cryptocurrency use cases for donations.

6. The Hardest Crypto Sanction in History: Tornado Cash

Tornado Cash, an Ethereum mixing platform, has been placed on the SDN List by The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury. The Treasury Department says Tornado Cash has been used to launder more than $7 billion since its inception in 2019.

This is the first time in history that a protocol was sanctioned. Tornado Cash suffered devastating damage, developers were arrested, codes were removed from GitHub and the website domain name was blocked.

7. Create a new paradigm of GameFi: STEPN Move-to-Earn Big Hit

Move-to-earn is still a relatively new concept, but it is similar to the play-to-earn (P2E) model because it adopts elements of GameFi. They also solved some of the shortcomings of GameFi. STEPN is the pioneer in this.

The announcement of the release of Binance’s IEO on March 1 was an absolute turning point for STEPN. In a market that could not find a glimpse of light, STEPN’s GMT opened at Binance with 17x earnings and then rose all the way from $0.1 to $4. It is no exaggeration to say that STEPN led the wave of Web3 in 2022.

8. NFT Summer – Selling like Hotcakes

Yuga Labs had a brilliant year. In March, the owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) received an airdrop of ApeCoins Token for every NFT they held. The airdrop received by one BAYC was initially worth about $140,000. Some ‘creative’ members took the BAYC out of the borrowing or splitting pool, received the airdrop and returned it, and earned $1.1 million in one day.

Many NFT-related events popped out during the summer. This has also started a series of celebrity endorsements to large brands entering the Web3 space. These are great summer moments; we all remember them.

9. Curve Wars

Curve has a very critical mechanism. The liquidity provider (LP) can obtain the veCRV accordingly by locking the CRV. The veCRV are used to vote in governance, boost governance rewards, earn trading fees and receive airdrops. The longer CRV is locked, the more voting power holders have and vice versa.

To win the war, many projects increased APY and organized new wars, allowing users who participated at that time to obtain benefits. More and more protocols are building off of Curve, and an entire ecosystem is emerging, engaged in the so-called Curve Wars.

10. Hacking incidents occurred numerous times throughout the year.

a) Optimism confirms 20 million OP stolen; hackers have sold 1 million. Due to communication and technical mistakes in cooperating with cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute, the 20 million OP sent by the Optimism Foundation to Wintermute was sent directly to the wrong Layer1 address. Then the 20 million OP was controlled by hackers.

b) The official bridge of BNB Chain was hacked. This is one of the largest on-chain attacks in the history of crypto, with losses of $718 million. The recovery was rapid, BNB’s price was stable thanks to the swift actions by CZ.

c) Ronin hack incident of Axie Infinity. This is one of the most outrageous theft incidents this year. Ronin, the self-developed sidechain of GameFi leader Axie Infinity, was attacked. 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC were stolen, worth 625 million US dollars. It is also one of the most severe attacks this year. It is outrageous that the officials found out that it was stolen six days before the official announcement, but it has not been announced.

d) Bitkeep was compromised. The multi-chain wallet BitKeep has security vulnerabilities. Hackers hijacked some APK package downloads, and packages that were implanted by hackers were installed, resulting in the theft of many user funds. A total of 8 million dollars of losses were promised to be paid in full.

e) Cross-chain bridges are risky. Vitalik has warned us about the safety of cross-chain bridges and cautioned additional risks when used. Ronin Bridge by Axie ($624 million); Wormhole by Solana ($326 million); Harmony Bridge ($100 million); Nomad ($190 million).

It is difficult to predict specific trends in the cryptocurrency market with certainty, as the market is highly volatile and subject to various external factors. However, here are some potential trends that could shape the future of the cryptocurrency market.

10 Future Crypto Trends For 2023

1. The macro economy will be stabilized, and the Federal Reserve will slow down the progress of interest rate hikes. Crypto will be more stable too.

2. Cryptocurrency will continue to be watched by the regulators and will move to a more compliant stage. Crypto companies must continue to have positive government relations.

3. NFT liquidity tools will stabilize the NFT market and create a better Web3 infrastructure for users and investors. Soul Bound Token (SBT) use cases will also increase and become another market driver.

4. Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) usage will experience exponential growth in 2023.

5. Decentralized Social (DeSoc) will change the way value flows with the help of AAA-level blockchain games.

6. Metaverse will have its own DeFi structure and framework, allowing exchanges, for example, to be operated on it with fewer restrictions and in the good name of innovation.

7. Investment and hype of ZK series public chains could be the new hotspot. We could possibly see in the first half of the year, e.g. Starknet, Zk-sync, Scroll, Polygon ZKEVM ZK L2.

8. Artificial intelligence (AI) sparked new growth in Web3. The popularity of ChatGPT surprised us in Q4 2022, and it will continue in 2023. I see them being applied to the application level. We would also see Web3/ blockchain solving productivity issues with AI to achieve a qualitative leap.

9. Security issues will receive greater attention, and large-scale applications of on-chain data monitoring will be deployed. On-chain data can not only provide support for Web3 security governance but also conduct in-depth analysis of on-chain activities, revealing key information such as Web3 user behaviour, emerging trends, and investment opportunities.

10. The rise of CeFi + DeFi reshapes the crypto market. Forward-looking financial institutions will continue to pay attention and devote themselves to combining CeFi and DeFi. They will also combine institutional-level risk management capabilities with code-enforced transparency to explore more business models that can support the real business world. Rapid growth and relatively mature DeFi services will be developed and more likely to be favoured by major institutions.

The cryptocurrency space is constantly evolving, and it is likely that we will see the development of new technologies and applications that could change the way we think about and use cryptocurrency.

In my honest opinion, the future of cryptocurrency is uncertain, but it is possible that we will see it become more widely adopted and integrated into mainstream financial systems over time.

Overall, the future of cryptocurrencies is uncertain, and it is difficult to predict precisely how they will evolve. I am sure it will continue to gain attention and adoption, but it is important for investors to carefully consider the risks and potential benefits before making any investment decisions. Let’s work harder for Crypto 2023!

Source: https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/crypto-flashbacks-flash-forward-10-events-in-2022-10-trends-in-2023/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Green and sustainable crypto – Is this the way forward?

Green and sustainable crypto – Is this the way forward?

Energy consumption has been a major source of criticism in the cryptocurrency business. Ethereum has finally deployed a huge network upgrade that dramatically transforms how the blockchain validates transactions, mints new currency, and secures its network.

This mechanism, known as proof-of-stake, has cut Ethereum energy use by more than 99 per cent. This sounds good. However, Bitcoin is unlikely to follow suit.

Is Bitcoin now green? No, but at least Bitcoin’s emissions of greenhouse gases are down than before. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Bitcoin’s greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 59 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in October 2021 to 48.88 metric tons.

According to research released by Cambridge University’s Centre of Alternative Finance, Bitcoin is failing to go green, with the cryptocurrency recording only modest increases in its use of renewable energy in the year leading up to January.

Powerful computers connected to a worldwide network process Bitcoin transactions and “mine” new tokens in a competition to solve challenging mathematical puzzles. Policymakers, investors, and environmentalists concerned about the process’s impact on global warming criticise it for guzzling electricity and heavily relying on dirty fossil fuels like coal.

Green cryptocurrencies are those whose mining activities are powered by renewable energy sources.

Things are changing, and there are alternatives to make it “greener”

Solar

Currently, solar is said to as “the cheapest energy source.” Solar energy, which has the greatest pace of growth among all energy sources, presently provides three per cent of the world’s electricity while emitting no noise pollution and scaling up easily. Solar energy has global potential, in contrast to comparatively rare geothermal.

According to Bloomberg, a solar power company in South Africa pays investors with cryptocurrency. Sun Exchange allows investors to spend as little as US$4 on solar cells. Although the cost is lower than what would have been charged for electricity from the grid, the customers who receive the renewable energy nevertheless pay the price for a 20-year contract.

Sun Exchange gets a portion of the revenue to pay for installation and upkeep while also turning a profit. Investors are paid the balance. They can receive South African Rands or Bitcoin, with the latter enabling simple cross-border payments to the more than 35,000 participants thus far across 180 countries.

Biomass

Five per cent of US primary consumption, 10 per cent of global energy, and 1.4 per cent of Canada’s electrical production come from biomass. Most of this energy is used for industrial heating and other activities, which have considerable environmental benefits that include enhancing hygiene by reusing waste and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Utilising biodegradable materials as fuel for energy production is not out of place in the race for a sustainable Bitcoin mining business. When compared to solar, it might not offer a more significant arbitrage, but buying these energy choices from a position of strength remains the ideal.

Bitcoin Magazine reported that a Dallas, Texas-based hemp processor, Generation Hemp, sees more peer-to-peer in the future for cannabis than just passing around a pre-roll. They have unveiled plans to mine for cryptocurrency using cannabis as fuel.

Hydro

Compared to other renewable energy sources, hydropower has the best energy extraction (conversion) efficiency (up to 90 per cent), is the most dependable, and has the smallest carbon footprint.

Borgo d’Anaunia is a small municipality in the Trentino-Alto Adige area of northern Italy. The 37-year-old Daniele Graziadei became Italy’s first municipality to run a crypto data centre. Another illustration of the use of hydropower is this.

The need to be more green expands to other tokens too

VeChain is working on green initiatives to increase stakeholder involvement, such as the one agreed with the government of San Marino, or to deliver the future of safe and traceable food. According to the project’s current estimating models, VeChain generates 4.58 metric tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions generated by mining a single BTC.

FRZ Solar System (FRZSS) was created to combat the energy issue using blockchain technologies and web innovations. Given that solar energy is limitless, renewable, endless, pollution-free, and inexpensive, the FRZSS intends to popularise solar power plants as the primary power source. The team has also been working with other companies to reduce the cost of electricity generation.

Tezos is a green energy crypto blockchain similar to Ethereum in that it supports smart contracts and can be used to mint NFTs. The low carbon footprint of Tezos means developers and users can prioritise innovation without compromising sustainability. They have increased energy efficiency per-transaction basis by at least 70 per cent.

IMPT is a blockchain-based technology that allows individuals and businesses to swiftly and safely reduce their carbon footprint. Customers can earn carbon credits while buying online. They could even buy them directly from the platform. Furthermore, IMPT should tokenise carbon credits so users can purchase them as NFTs. The NFTs are then recorded into a decentralised ledger that users view to give traceability and transparency.

Back to Bitcoin

The large carbon footprint associated with Bitcoin mining appears to be at odds with any environmental objectives. The demand that limited electricity is used for the real economy and not for Bitcoin mining is justified in light of escalating energy prices and shortages.

Creating new strategies for the most efficient utilisation of resources is necessary. Bitcoin mining has the potential to hasten the global energy transition by serving as a backup energy buyer for the excess power balance.

Additionally, energy power plants constructed with the intention of mining Bitcoin can generate a higher profit than those built to sell the electricity at market rates, mainly when constructed in remote areas with easy access to renewable energy sources but no infrastructure for integrating them into the grid. Plant owners might use these revenues to fund additional clean energy initiatives that support ESG objectives and the world’s increasing demand for electricity.

But for these projects to be successful, Bitcoin generation and the associated value chains would need to be held to a very high standard of accountability and measurability.

 

Source: https://e27.co/green-and-sustainable-crypto-is-this-the-way-forward-20221114/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

#Blockchain Revolution 2030- Looking forward to a future of blockchain with Park Young Sook, Anndy Lian and Shawn Hamnison

#Blockchain Revolution 2030- Looking forward to a future of blockchain with Park Young Sook, Anndy Lian and Shawn Hamnison
Park Young Sook, Anndy Lian and Shawn Hamnison are the authors of “Blockchain Revolution 2030”, a book that gives a comprehensive review of the birth, principles, industrial and institutional issues, status and future of the “blockchain” that will become the foundation technology of the 4th industrial revolution.
This book is published by Kyobo Book Centre, the largest bookstore chain in South Korea. Kyobo is also known for their extensive variety of books and especially in the education segment. The book “Blockchain Revolution 2030” has very detailed information about the whole blockchain industry, use case studies, on going research and also future planning for this new technologies.
“We have good contents in the book giving people a good overview of what blockchain is all about and how it is going to affect our future. There are more than 350 pages of contents in this book and would also be a good text book for students who want to pursuit a career in the high tech and blockchain sphere. I am proud to have written the book with Professor Park Young Sook, a futurist and forward looking academia whom I know her at the Yonsei University located in Seoul and one of the best private universities in Korea found in 1885, to share the best practices in the blockchain industry.” Anndy Lian said delightfully.
“Being a futurist myself, I like to be with future and forward thinking personalities, Anndy Lian provides the blockchain industry expertise, while Shawn Hamnison puts in more research work to help complete the book. I am happy to gain support from Kyobo Book Centre and published our book. We have a vision to make a series of books so that will entice more people to get into this new industry and build up the technology to new heights. I hope to influence and bring in more like minded futurist together.” Park Young Sook emphasized her firm vision.
Both Professor Park and Mr Lian have gone a long way. They are both the core member of the Gyeongsangbuk-do Blockchain Special Committee, aimed at cultivating the blockchain industry, building a blockchain research centre, attracting investment in blockchain-related projects, and promoting the development of the blockchain industry in the city of Gyeongsangbuk-do. LINFINITY supply chain blockchain technology is one of anchor. They were also the keynote speaker at the Global Leaders Forum 2018 and Korea Future Forum 2019. On top of this, both of them are also playing a role with organizations within international- Professor Park is the CEO for the UN Future Forum, while Anndy is the Blockchain Adviser for the Asian Productivity Organization (APO), an intergovernmental Organization..
The book written by the forward thinking individuals are made available online and offline at Kyobo Book Centre and major book stores in South Korea. Find out more about the book at http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/product/detailViewKor.laf?ejkGb=KOR&mallGb=KOR&barcode=9791159099656

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j