The Crypto The industry is very diverse. From experienced and professional business people to people-shy programmers, they all contribute. And as always, every now and then there is a black sheep. And some of them could cause great damage.
Ethereum is hitting a particularly low point compared to Bitcoin
The founder of the crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried
By far the biggest crypto loser of 2023 is Sam Bankman-Fried. The founder of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is now at the end of a legal dispute that sometimes affects him could result in a prison sentence of 115 years. The reason for this is his role in the collapse of the FTX exchange he founded in November 2022, which caused unimaginable double-digit billions of dollars to evaporate.
He funneled more than $8 billion in client funds to his trading firm, Alameda Research. The company was run by his girlfriend at the time. The relationship collapsed as violently as his company and the billions he wasted. During his trial, he was abandoned by colleagues and friends. It only took a few hours for the jury to convict him.
Do Kwon, CEO of Terraform Labs
A deserved second place as the biggest crypto loser Do Kwon. The founder of Terraform Labs, who is in prison in Montenegro, may have caused the greatest financial damage ever. Terraform Labs was the organization behind the cryptocurrency and stablecoin Terra (LUNA). As the stablecoin collapsed like a house of cards, billions of them disappeared.
The Stablecoin It turned out to be built entirely out of hot air. Other stablecoins like Tether (USDT) use cash and bonds to maintain the price. This fiasco (enabled by Do Kwon) not only wiped out several billion, but also indirectly caused the collapse of FTX. However, this place smelled from the start, so that couldn’t be ruled out.
Since it caused tens of billions of dollars in damage, Kwon has a chance to win the title of “largest financial loss of all time.” In recent months, Kwon has been arrested and brought to trial in Monenegro. He will most likely be extradited to the USA or South Korea shortly.
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Bonus: Avraham Eisenberg (Avi)
Crypto trader and Mango Markets founder Avraham Eisenberg also deserves the title of “crypto loser”. He is currently awaiting trial in a Brooklyn prison. He is suspected of siphoning off $110 million Solana Protocol Mango Markets.
He himself admitted this, although perhaps unintentionally, on Twitter. Two months later he was arrested in Puerto Rico. During the investigation found the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found child pornography on his cell phone. Eisenberg and his attorney did not comment on this discovery.
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