Top Stories: The First Week of 2023 in Crypto, What Happened?
It’s only a week into the new year, 2023, and the crypto industry’s problems persist, with plummeting deposits, layoffs, and lawsuits, among other things, adding to the upheaval of 2022, which was marked by extremely steep price drops and high-profile bankruptcies of large crypto empires.
Here is a summary of the major first week of 2023 events, including staff layoffs at several blockchain companies, multiple federal criminal accusations brought against alleged fraudsters, hacking incidents, and, of course, partnerships.
Here is everything you need to know about what has happened so far in the cryptocurrency industry in 2023.
- On January 3, over 3 million dollars were stolen from a whale holding large amounts of the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol GMX’s native token. The hackers stole about 82,519 GMX tokens and exchanged them for 2,627 Ethereum tokens.
- In a United States federal court, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, enters a not-guilty plea on all criminal counts.
- The crypto brokerage and lending firm Digital Currency Group — founded by Barry Silbert — is winding down its wealth management department. This comes after its subsidiary, Genesis, laid off 30% of its staff.
- On January 4, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused eight people and companies of fraud in connection with the blockchain business CoinDeal for fraudulently dealing with securities, breaching US securities laws, and organizing a scheme to steal customer funds.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 4 questioned Binance’s capacity to carry out the proposed $1 billion acquisition of Voyager Digital and the viability of its post-acquisition plans.
- The investigation continues over the collapse of the FTX exchange. US authorities — the SEC and CFTC — are reportedly investigating the former engineering director of the troubled firm, Nishad Singh, to evaluate his role in the sudden fall.
- The creator of the Mutant Ape Planet (MAP) non-fungible token (NFT) collection, a copycat of the well-known Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, was arrested on January 5 by the US Department of Justice and accused of fraud for allegedly pulling a $2.9 million scam.
- The global payment giant Mastercard announced on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, that it has partnered with Polygon to start a web3-focused incubator to support artists in connecting with followers through a new medium.
- The crypto winter has done it again. The non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, SuperRare, said on Friday, January 6, that it is reducing its employee count by 30% as a direct consequence of the prolonged crypto winter.
- Huobi cryptocurrency exchange has confirmed plans to also lay off 20% of its employees on January 6 as part of the ongoing restructuring following Justin Sun’s acquisition of the firm.
- The collapsed FTX exchange and its debtors have finally reached a liquidation agreement. The parties under the agreement have commenced working together to share information, secure and return the property to their estates, coordinate litigation against third parties, and explore strategic alternatives for maximizing stakeholder recoveries, among others.
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