5. Three Arrows Capital defaulted on debt and was ordered into liquidation
3AC failed to repay a Bitcoin loan from lender firm Voyager Digital in mid-June and was ordered to liquidate its assets by a court on June 27. According to Chainalysis, the collapse of Celsius and 3AC wiped out a total of $33 billion of the crypto market’s value.
The knock-on effect from their failure has spread across the industry. Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy just a few weeks later. Trading firm Genesis also suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in losses because it had loaned crypto to 3AC.
6. FTX filed for bankruptcy
In November, CoinDesk reported that FTX’s sister trading firm Alameda Researcheld a significant amount of its portfolio in the exchange’s native token, FTT. FTT price plummeted from $22 to $1 within days, which caused a solvency crisis at FTX.
FTX was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 17 after CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried failed to find a savior and rival exchange Binance pulled out of the rescue agreement. FTX’s new CEO John Ray III, who oversaw Enron’s restructuring, said he’s never seen a company as bad as FTX in its 40 years of dealing with bankruptcies.
7. Sam Bankman-Fried arrested on fraud and money laundering charges
On Dec 12, authorities in the Bahamas arrested Bankman-Fried under a US indictment that charged him with six counts of fraud, money laundering and financial law violations. Bankman-Fried was previously considered one of the most respected CEOs in the crypto space. The former CEO of FTX promised to work with regulators, donating millions of dollars to President Joe Biden’s election campaign.
Bankman-Fried’s arrest marked the end of a month-long fall that saw the former billionaire’s crypto empire collapse rapidly.
8. Users pulled 6 billion USD out of the exchange, Binance tried to reassure investors of its financial strength
Users saw withdrawals of $6 billion within 72 hours in December. There were concerns that Binance could face a liquidity crisis as Binance’s native token is being sold off. Binance has reassured investors by hiring French auditing firm Mazars to carry out a proof of reserve (PoR) audit of its crypto holdings.
However, audit firm Mazars later suspended all of its work with crypto clients due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public. Binance’s financial records are like a black box as they are mostly hidden from public view.
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