By Tim Hakki
6 min read
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt
Crypto prices barely moved this week. In the context of 2022, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad week, just slow. Most weeks this year have brought losses. To those who have followed prices keenly, this is no surprise. On New Year’s Day, Bitcoin posted an intraday low of $46,000; yesterday it bottomed out at closer to $19,000.
In other words, if 2021 was Bitcoin’s great bull run, then 2022 has been more of a bear run. Investors are feeling more cautious than last year for a number of reasons, but three big factors have been the collapse of Terra back in May—which had profound knock-on effects on the liquidity of several big crypto businesses—enhanced scrutiny from regulators worldwide, and a generally cautious global economy.
On Monday, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million after failing to disclose that she was paid $250,000 to publish an Instagram post shilling a token called EthereumMax. United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler posted a video on Twitter warning his quarter of a million followers not to buy into crypto purely because of celebrity endorsements.
Gensler explained that day that Kardashian ran afoul of SEC regulations as the hashtag she used to alert her followers that the promo was paid for did not clarify “the amount she was paid and the nature of it.” The securities regulator chief has long implied that the only cryptocurrency he believes doesn’t fall under his jurisdiction is Bitcoin.
As crypto becomes more popular, so too does crypto crime. ROK Capital researcher @Crypto_Mckenna warned people on Monday about crypto crime in Bogota during conference season.
On Tuesday, crypto gumshoe ZachXBT posted a new mega thread showing the results of his investigation into a Twitter hack earlier this year in which a lot of crypto was stolen.
Crypto artist Beeple, whose Twitter account was compromised to execute the scam, rewarded sleuthing by rendering him in an exclusive bit of art. Zach appeared humbled in his reply.
That same day, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shilled a new documentary movie about the exchange’s recent history.
For the second week in a row, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon downplayed rumors that he has been siphoning funds from Terra’s ecosystem.
Crypto reporter Asa Hicken on Thursday posted a thread summarizing the findings of a recent article of his, concluding that the extent of downsizing going on at online crypto exchange Crypto.com is much higher than commonly thought. In addition to a massive headcount reduction, first reported by Decrypt in August, the company has also drastically pared down its marketing and sponsorship deals.
Last Friday, bankrupt crypto lender Celsius inexplicably leaked thousands of customer names and transactions in a 14,500 page court filing. The compromising document has since been taken down, though no explanation for its leak has been given. Many were rightfully concerned by such a massive leak.
DeFi developer @0xfoobar even went as far as to warn that the leak may be a prelude to real violence.
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko thinks Solana could conceivably become an Ethereum layer 2 if the NFT party migrates onto the network.
Bitcoin maxi David Marcus, who formerly presided over PayPal, vented his issues with his former company’s draconian new rules. His tweet ended up catching the eye of Tesla chief and former PayPal CEO Elon Musk.
CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer boasted about his crypto trading skills on Friday.
Several people made fun of him.
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