2022 was a rollercoaster for the crypto industry. But the only problem is that it has gone downhill since January. There have been so many crypto scams in 2022 that it’s hard to look back and not talk about them. From the massive collapse of the once fourth largest crypto project to the fall of the second largest crypto exchange, we’ve seen it all.
Shocking Statistics About Crypto Scams
- In 2022, users lost more 4 billion dollars in various crypto scams to hackers.
- The FTX debacle is believed to be a scam 8 to 10 billion dollars in the user’s funds.
- Countless YouTubers have planted projects that stole millions of dollars in the money of the viewers in 2022.
- DeFi protocols they were the most vulnerable and sought after by fraudsters.
- Bitcoin is the most preferred cryptocurrency by fraudsters, followed by Tether and Ethereum.
The biggest crypto scams of 2022
Let’s take a look at the top 5 scams hitting the entire industry in 2022.
1) FTX
No matter how long you’ve been in the crypto industry, chances are you’ve heard of FTX. The collapse of the second largest crypto exchange set the entire industry on fire and resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in user funds.
Sam Bankman-Fried
The culprit of the fraud is the popular and down-to-earth founder Sam Bankman Fried, who now has 8 criminal charges against him. He is charged with multiple counts of fraud, which, if proven true, will land him in prison for up to 115 years.
SBF is now out on bail for the highest bail ever offered by the court at $250 million. He will appear in court soon and is expected to sign a plea agreement. However, lawyers and experts in this matter expect that the terms of the job will not go well with him.
2) Luna and UST
Do you still remember Luna and UST? The projects have destroyed about 20 to 30 billion dollars of user wealth. They are still considered one of the biggest crypto failures of all time, and some data even suggests that this could all have been orchestrated. In fact, the founder of the project, Do Kwon, is reportedly on the run from the police.
Image source: NuWire Investor
UST was an algorithmic stablecoin backed by Luna. So when UST lost its peg to the dollar, people started buying UST and converting it to Luna, which increased the supply of the token to trillions and reduced its value to almost zero. Before the crash, Binance had about $1.6 billion worth of Luna stakes, which were reduced to just $3,000 after the collapse.
After that, Do Kwon launched Luna 2.0, but it was not a hit that marked the end of this project.
3) Ronin’s Axie Infinity Network
The biggest hack ever performed in the crypto space was on Ronin’s Axie Infinity network. We can easily call it one of the biggest crypto scams of 2022. Hackers managed to steal 625 million dollars after discovering a vulnerability in the network and got 170 thousand Ethereum and 25 million USDC tokens.
This was such a large attack that Axie stopped the Ronin web to prevent more damage. Users could not perform any online transactions at that time. One positive news was that Axie informed that the hackers still have their funds in the wallet and are working with law enforcement to get them back.
Binance and FTX have also come forward to help Axie and said they will provide assistance and help investigate the hack.
4) Safe month
Safemoon was first launched in 2021, but its downfall occurred in 2022, so we count it among the biggest crypto scams of the year. The fraud was discovered by cofeezilla, after which the token fell 26% in one day. He informed his viewers that the founder of the project, John Karony, was stealing from the liquidity fund. Many other team members on the project were also doing the exact same thing.
John also invested in a shitcoin called Stonsk using money from the liquidity fund. There are many other coins and NFTs that the CEO has invested using user funds. He was also found cashing out millions in Coinbase and Kraken wallets.
Watch the video to get the perfect picture of Safemoon. Many Safemoon fans may disagree with this, but this video is a hot take on the project and I agree with it.
5) Crypto wormhole bridge
Wormhole, an Ethereum and Solana bridge token, lost $321 million in a hack in February 2022. It was the largest hack of 2022 at the time with 120,000 wETH tokens lost. The project even offered a $10 million reward for hackers to return the stolen funds.
This hack happened because there was a major vulnerability in the smart contract reported by Certik. After the hackers did not return the funds, Jump crypto returned the funds to ensure that wETH remains pegged 1:1.
What do you think about the biggest crypto scams of 2022? And do you think 2023 will be a better year for the industry? Let us know in the comments below. And if you find our content informative, please share it with your family and friends.
Also read: Bankman-Fried himself probably won’t get a good plea deal, attorney says.