It’s been a blood bath.

FTX, BlockFI, Three Arrows, Voyager Digital, and Celsius all collapsed in 2022. In addition, the crypto exchange, Coinbase, the largest direct listing in history, took an 86.31% market cap hit in 2022. Mainly due to low signups and a crash in trading volume, the stock was also impacted by the terraUSD/luna crash in May and the spectacular FTX implosion in November. Even golden boy Tom Brady got sucked in and took a serious hit.

And it wasn’t just Coinbase taking a hit. MicroStrategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, is down 70.61%, and Marathon Digital Holdings, one of the largest publicly traded crypto mining firms, fell 89%. Silvergate Capital, a California-based bank that caters almost exclusively to crypto companies, is also down 89%. Coingecko reported that 951 cryptocurrencies were declared dead or failed coins in 2022. With 8000 coins listed in 2021, 40% have failed or were deactivated.

While those who are deep into crypto believe it will bounce back (they speak of a 4-year cycle). But for the general population, it’s a different story. For many, crypto is seen as a scam that got exposed. Confidence and trust have taken a beating, negatively haloing every crypto-related brand. And that’s part of the problem. To build back momentum, it needs the masses to believe and play.  

Crypto needs oversight and regulation to earn back confidence, and it needs it soon. 

Is this an existential problem for crypto? Will this crypto winter see a Spring thaw?

Maybe so, maybe not. 

Just don’t bet the ranch.