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2022Collapses and contagion

Rising interest rates and a chain of high-profile failures pushed Bitcoin down about 64% over the year. Most of the damage came from leveraged lenders and exchanges, not from the Bitcoin network, which kept producing blocks every ten minutes.

Year-end price (approx.)

~$16,500

Block reward

6.25 BTC

Year change

≈ −64%

What happened

1. Feb 8

   US authorities announce the seizure of about 94,000 BTC linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

2. Mar 16

   The US Federal Reserve begins its rate-hiking cycle, tightening conditions for risk assets.

3. May 9–12

   The Terra/LUNA ecosystem collapses, wiping out tens of billions of dollars.

4. Jun 12

   Lender Celsius freezes withdrawals, and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and others follow into insolvency.

5. Nov 11

   FTX, then among the largest exchanges, files for bankruptcy.

6. Nov 21

   Bitcoin touches its cycle low of about $15,500.

Why it mattered

2022 reinforced the difference between holding Bitcoin yourself and trusting an intermediary to hold it for you.

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