#2022

Law enforcement agencies have restricted access to the website of the notorious LockBit ransomware, which became the leading type of attack among similar cyber threats in 2022.

Ransomware attacks achieved a record-breaking milestone in 2023, stealing $1 billion in cryptocurrency, despite a notable downturn in 2022.

In El Salvador, only 12% of the population reportedly used Bitcoin for payments of goods and services in the past year, marking a 12.4% decline from the 2022 statistics. This information comes from a study conducted by the Central American University José Simeón Cañas, based on face-to-face interviews with 1,280 people.

While the number of attacks remained stable at 160 since 2022, the amount stolen by cybercriminals plummeted from nearly $4 billion in 2022 to just $1.7 billion through November 2023.

U.S. authorities have indicted trader Avraham Eisenberg for orchestrating a fraud and market manipulation scheme on the decentralized exchange Mango Markets. The reports indicate that in late 2022, he intentionally drove up the price of the MNGO token by 1300%, leveraging it as collateral to secure a $110 million loan he failed to return.

The FTX collapse in November 2022 had a chain effect on the crypto industry. Many companies crashed afterward, including the crypto lender Voyager.

In a low-key yet significant move, Tether, the company behind USDT stablecoin, added 8,888.88 BTC (approximately $380 million) to its reserves in the previous quarter. This acquisition increased its Bitcoin stash to a hefty 66,465 BTC, valued at $2.8 billion, adhering to its policy of monthly Bitcoin purchases since September 2022.

A recent CoinGecko study reveals a startling fact: over 50% of cryptocurrency projects (14,039), listed on the platform since 2014, have faced failure. The vast majority of these setbacks (more than 70%) occurred between 2020 and 2022, largely attributed to the ease of deploying tokens and the craze around meme coins.

In the US, crypto industry lobbying is on the rise, with expenditures reaching $19 million in just the first three quarters of the year, surpassing the previous year's total. In 2022, the total lobbying budget reached $22 million, with FTX contributing significantly.