In May 2022, a fraudulent stablecoin project called Terra imploded, setting off a broader meltdown that wiped out more than $1 trillion in cryptocurrency market cap. Inflation and broader market forces scared other investors away from crypto and drove more firms out of business. The rout reached its nadir in November, when the industry’s golden child, Sam Bankman-Fried, got arrested for running a Ponzi scheme, triggering ferocious blowback from regulators.
It has truly been a year from hell for crypto. But the headlines obscure a broader story of how the industry has survived—and even grown stronger.
