Stories From The Crypto Industry That Will Keep You Up At Night

The crypto industry is characterized by high growth rates and an oversaturation of all sorts of events. The world doesn't stand still and the DeFi industry is only gaining momentum, constantly developing and surprising us with new launches, opportunities, and discoveries. 

Specializing in any field implies full immersion in professional topics, and the crypto industry is no exception. In addition to professional interest, in-depth knowledge of industry events allows you to stay abreast of all important news. Dive into the world of DeFi, granting the relevant knowledge necessary for predicting the future of the industry.

Our entire team is constantly interested in news concerning the crypto-sphere to keep up-to-date with all current events and not miss sight of important points. A lot of interesting things have accumulated recently, which I think will be of use to you. That's why I’ve made a compilation of all the hottest stories and news in the crypto industry.

Beginning of the Bear Market 2022

The Bear market is a drop in the index from a maximum of 20% or more. The S&P hit a high of 4,800 points on January the 3rd. This means that the market becomes bearish if the index falls below 3840 points. On May 20th, the S&P 500 dropped to 3,810 but closed at 3,900 points — 18.7% below the maximum. This is slightly less than 20%, but it is difficult not to call the trend in the U.S. stock market bearish.

According to the latest Glassnode research, the bear market of 2022 turned out to be the most significant for cryptocurrencies. The leveraged cryptocurrency ecosystem has come under extreme pressure due to aggressive economic tightening. In particular, we are talking about rising inflation and rising interest rates.

Source: Glassnode

The report from analytical company Glassnode dated June 24th, titled "A Bear of Historic Proportions," describes how the current fall of Bitcoin below the 200-day moving average (MA) and negative deviation from the realized price made 2022 the worst year in the history of Bitcoin. The company claims that this is a historical case, since spot prices are rarely lower than the selling price. 

In the next news story, I'll share with you the “cause and effect” of the bear market — Bitcoin collapse and its possible causes.

Bitcoin's Price Falls Below $20,000

Source: ItsBlockchain

The Bitcoin exchange rate has sharply collapsed: on the morning of June 14th, the most popular cryptocurrency lost 10% in its exchange rate, falling below $23K. It was the lowest Bitcoin price in a year and a half.

Recently, the world's first cryptocurrency has been very volatile. Thus, on June 13th, the price of this cryptocurrency fell to $25,082 for the first time since December 2020. A few days later, the bitcoin price dropped to $17,615 for the first time since November 2020. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin exchange rate was about $19,212.

What's the reason for such a sharp drop? A number of experts identify several ones: some believe that “crypto winter” is coming due to economic processes and high inflation in the United States. Others believe that the fall in the value of bitcoin is due not so much to real processes in the economy, but also to a decrease in interest in the currency. In my opinion, it's impossible to single out one reason; a series of processes led to the fall: the loss of binding of the stables to the dollar, the suspension of token entry by exchanges, the sale of assets, and much more. However, Bitcoin's forecasts aren't entirely comforting: in July, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to increase the rate by another 75 basis points, against which the cost of bitcoin may well collapse to $10K.

Terra Collapses: LUNA falls 99% 

Source: Crypto Daily

The Terra (LUNA) cryptocurrency was launched in 2019, but it turned out to be in the public eye at the end of 2021 - the beginning of 2022. LUNA is a native Terra blockchain token based on an algorithmic stablecoin. The creators conceived Terra not just as another blockchain, but as a full-fledged financial and technological system with a business perspective. The Terra ecosystem was supposed to perform the functions of a bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional finance. 

In just a year, the value of altcoin has increased by more than 5,500%. If in January 2021 LUNA cost about $1.5, then by January 2022 it had risen to $85. In April 2022, the altcoin rate reached a historic high of $116. Just a couple of months later, the coin collapsed. 

The collapse of the cryptocurrency began on May 8th, when the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) temporarily lost its binding to the U.S. dollar. This happened after one of the users sold UST for almost $300 million at once.

LUNA became the first coin in history to be ranked in the top 10 cryptocurrencies and then depreciated by 95%. It's not surprising that after the collapse, investors began to actively withdraw funds from Terra blockchain due to the failure of the major ecosystem model.

As far as I'm concerned, all the main reasons for the UST token being below $1 at the beginning of May 2022 are yet to be revealed. However, its subsequent fall demonstrated a vulnerability that led to the collapse of several algorithmic stablecoins: the value of UST depends on the confidence of users in the value of the Luna token, and the value of Luna is ultimately based on the confidence that the price of UST will remain stable.

What's the forecast for LUNA? Even for experienced traders and investors, it's very difficult, almost impossible, to give an accurate and long-term prediction of the exchange rate of any cryptocurrency, given the volatility of the crypto markets. For example, at the time of writing this article, the token was worth $0.000116. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that the collapse of the third-largest UST stablecoin project Terra has cast a shadow over the entire decentralized finance sector.

$100M Horizon Bridge Hack

Source: CoinMarketCap

On June 24, hackers managed to steal from Horizon Bridge, a service managed by the Harmony blockchain that allows the transfer of cryptocurrency assets to other blockchains. The theft occurred in 14 transactions on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, during which the hacker stole various assets, including ETH, BNB, USDT, USDC, and Dai. At the time of the announcement, Harmony estimated the losses at $100 million.

After the theft, the hacker used various DEX to exchange tokens for ETH. The Harmony's owners announced a $1 million reward for the return of the stolen assets.

I'd like to point out that since the beginning of 2022, there have been at least five other notable attacks on bridges, which indicates a not very positive trend and calls into question one of the main advantages of the DeFi industry - cybersecurity.

Solana Releases Saga Blockchain Smartphone

Source: Forbes

On June 23th, Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko presented a new Android-based Saga smartphone in New York. His team is developing a smartphone specifically designed for Web3.0, already with built-in NFC marketplaces and decentralized exchanges.

The phone itself will have a 6.6-inch display and 512 GB of storage. The device is already available for pre-order for a $100 deposit, the planned price is $1,000. Solana Mobile expects to release the phone by early 2023.

It's a good alternative to modern smartphones, especially for innovative technology fans or for crypto enthusiasts, developers, and traders.

In this article, you had a chance to get acquainted with the biggest cryptocurrency news in recent months. Do not be too scary, because the darkest night is just before dawn. Of course, this is only part of all the information that is updated daily. I hope this material was useful, and that you have managed to extract something new. I plan to continue researching all kinds of sources and regularly update you on the main events within the crypto industry.