What a year in Cryptoland.
After the peak of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the last twelve months have seen an onslaught of negativity in the country. crypto news wheel. And the price action has followed.
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there was wonderful UST’s death spiral In May, that created a wave of contagion across the space. And then most recently, we looked at former crypto royalty Bankman-Fried and his FTX exchange go into bankruptcyIn an event that no one saw coming.
But it also had a major upgrade Ethereum networks, major developments with bitcoin and much more. Here are 25 statistics from the world of cryptocurrency this past year – on-chain and off.
Top Crypto Stats for 2022
- At the beginning of the year, the market cap of bitcoin was $895 billion. The market cap of every cryptocurrency in the world today is $844 billion
- The market capitalization of the top 100 coins has dropped by $1.7 trillion this year, equal to Canada’s GDP.
- Ethereum’s merge upgrade goes live, reducing network energy consumption by 99.95% and reducing global power consumption by 0.2%
- There is now more than one bitcoin in 1,000 addresses on the bitcoin network
- Tether’s price hit a low of 95 cents this year, while its market cap fell by $13 billion as it lost market share to rivals
1. Ethereum Energy Consumption Drops 99.95% as It Completes Its Upgrade to Proof-of-Stake
The biggest upgrade in the history of the Ethereum network, known as the Merge (Deep Dive here), successfully came and went in September.
The upgrade moved the network from Proof-of-Work (similar to Bitcoin) to the more energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake, which reduced the network’s energy consumption by 99.95%.
2. Worldwide consumption falls 0.2% on the back of Ethereum merge
analyst estimates Worldwide electricity consumption has decreased by 0.2% on the back of the merge, further highlighting how impressive the reduction in energy emissions of the above merge has been.
3. $60 Billion Ecosystem Crashed, Largest In Crypto History
May’s death spiral of the Terra ecosystem wiped out $60 billion in assets in a 48-hour period. When including the infections that spread in the weeks that followed, the damage was enormous. In terms of numbers, this is by far the biggest crash in crypto history.
4. More than 50% of the bitcoin supply is running at a loss
By the fourth quarter of 2022, for the first time since the Covid crash in March 2020, most of the bitcoin supply was in deficit. This shows that the last decade (2011- 2021) bitcoin was the best performing financial asset class in the world.
6. 200,000 bitcoins pulled from exchanges in a month after FTX crash
In the month following the FTX crash, 200,000 bitcoins were pulled from exchanges, showing the extent to which trust in exchanges had been broken. (via CoinJournal)
7. Coinbase sheds 85% of its value
First major crypto company to go public coinbase, flew high last year. However, reduced volumes and cratering prices in the industry hit the exchange hard this year. By mid-December, it had lost 85% in value, with 1,100 employees laid off.
8. 40 cryptocurrencies currently worth $1 billion or more, down from 94 at the start of the year
The year started with nearly 100 cryptocurrencies valued at over $1 billion. Today, there are only 49. (via CoinMarketCap)
9. The Top 100 Coins Lost $1.7 Trillion In Value
On New Year’s Day, the market capitalization of the top 100 coins reached $2.2 trillion. Today, the top 100 total $505 billion. The $1.7 trillion drop is roughly equal to Canada’s GDP this year. (via Coinmarketcap)
10. Bitcoin was worth more than the entire cryptocurrency industry is worth today
At the beginning of the year, bitcoin was worth $895 billion. Today, the global crypto market capitalization is $844 billion. (via Coinmarketcap)
1 1, 2 – Top 10 coin numbers on May 1stscheduled tribe 2022 which will be zero within a week
Luna and the UST stablecoin both cracked the top 10 on the eve of their death spiral in May 2022.
12, $9.6 billion – all-time high of market cap for FTX native token that collapsed last month
FTX token, fttIt collapsed in November after revelations it was artificially propping up CEO Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research, which suffered heavy losses and mixed client assets from the FTX exchange.
13. FTX had one million creditors at the time of its collapse
The FTX exchange had more than a million creditors following its collapse last month. Court proceedings are likely to take years, meaning a long wait for those who are owed money, if anything, to get it back.
14. 130 FTX-affiliated companies file for bankruptcy after FTX collapse
In the days following the collapse of FTX, FTX and over 130 additional affiliated companies filed for bankruptcy.
15. An $8 Billion Hole on the FTX Balance Sheet
The size of the losses on FTX is $8 billion after funds were sent to Alameda Research to reduce trading losses.
16. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Was Congressional Democrats’ Second Biggest Donor To Midterm Elections
The disgraced CEO donated $39.2 million to the midterm elections, coming in behind only billionaire investor George Soros (via Forbes).
17. Tether hits a low of 95 cents this year
controversial stablecoin usdt There were two significant dips this year after the Terra accident and then the FTX accident. In both the cases the peg was recovered.
18. 14.22 million bitcoins haven’t moved in over a year, equivalent to 74% of the total supply
The bulk of the bitcoin supply hasn’t lasted more than a year. Only 26% of coins have moved in the last 365 days (via IntoTheBlock)
19. 1,077 addresses now hold more than one bitcoin
Just over 1,000 addresses on the network hold more than one bitcoin. 93% of the supply is contained in these wallets (via IntoTheBlock)
20. Bitcoin and Ethereum have an average correlation of 0.87 this year
The hands-on price action of the major cryptos can be demonstrated by Bitcoin and Ethereum averaging a 0.94 correlation (with a score of 1 being a perfect correlation). This is despite the major special event of the merge happening this year.
21. The average address on the Ethereum network is 80% lower today in dollar terms than at the beginning of the year
At the beginning of the year, the average address on the Ethereum network was $6200. Today that figure is $1,700. 80% of the decline is greater than the decline in price ETHWhich is 65% off.
22. The average balance in a bitcoin address has dropped from $22,300 to $7,600
The average address balance decline is 65% in USD terms, which equates to a 63% price drop. (via IntoTheBlock).
23. Tether’s market cap to drop by $13 billion in 2022
lanyard Has lost market share to rivals this year. Starting the year at a market cap of $78 billion, the controversial stablecoin LUNA reached a peak of $83 billion before the crisis, and now stands at $65 billion.
24. Binance USD steals the most market share, over $7 billion
Binance’s stablecoin opened the year at $14.6 billion. Today, it stands at $22 billion, partly due to its announcement that it will auto-convert exchange holdings in several rival currencies to BinanceUSD, while de-listing currency pairs for those same stablecoins.
25. Ethereum 2.0 contract has 15.6M ETH at stake, up from 8.8M
15.6 million ETH is locked in the Ethereum 2.0 contract, and will only be eligible for issuance next year after the Shanghai upgrade goes live. With 8.8 million ETH at stake at the beginning of the year, this number has nearly doubled and now represents 13% of the total supply. (via IntoTheBlock)
closing thoughts
Overall, the year 2022 has been a torrid year for risk assets across the board. Cryptocurrency is a prime example of this. Prices have plummeted, scams seem to be over and anxiety is at an all-time high.
There have also been positives, although in the short term, investors’ red portfolios won’t appreciate it. Ethereum completing the long-awaited merge could have seismic effects in the coming times.
It will be interesting to see how the year 2022 will be looked back in the crypto world in the future. Could this be a purge of nefarious actors, which is maturing badly in the industry? Or could it be a massive blow from which prices, or the industry at large, have never recovered?
Whatever the case, it will be fun to re-hash this piece and re-evaluate all these stats this time next year. Happy (almost) 2023!
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