The year 2022 has been extremely turbulent for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Cryptocurrency companies, in particular, have left behind quite difficult days with the effect of the bear market. While many exchanges made massive layoffs, worse affected exchanges also negatively affected the industry.
We have compiled for you what processes the leading cryptocurrency exchanges went through in 2022.
Binance
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was among the most important actors of 2022. In particular, the stock market, which is claimed to have played a role in the collapse of FTX, became one of the most important agenda items of the industry.
The exchange’s first major move in 2022 was the renaming of the Binance Smart Chain blockchain to BNB Chain. In a statement on the subject, BNB Chain Ecosystem Coordinator Samy Karim stated that BNB went beyond Binance and surpassed the stock market in terms of usage area of ​​BNB ecosystem.
The stock market continued to be on the agenda after the war with Russia and Ukraine. CZ pointed out that they do not have the authority to impose sanctions on Russia and that there are many anti-war people in the country and said that they stand with the people. The company later announced a donation of $2.5 million for Ukrainian children.
Binance managed to gain approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market on April 11, 2022.
Binance also played an important role in Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition deal. The exchange provided $ 500 million in funding to Elon Musk for the acquisition of Twitter.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao held a video conference call with Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati to exchange views on the crypto ecosystem.
The company managed to obtain licenses from France and Kazakhstan.
Binance announces selling FTT tokens
Binance announced that it intends to completely acquire FTX. However, in later reviews, it was announced that the condition of FTX was worse than expected, and therefore the purchase was abandoned.
Binance has launched an NFT collection with Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Binance has released its proof-of-reserve system.
Binance US announced that it has agreed with the company to acquire the assets of Voyager Digital.
coinbase
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the USA, was one of the exchanges that had difficulties in 2022. The company had to lay off many of its employees and its stocks also hit an all-time low.
The company announced on January 13, 2022 that it had acquired FairX.
The exchange announced that it has partnered with MasterCard to facilitate users’ NFT purchases.
Coinbase has announced that it has added support for its hardware wallet Ledger.
Coinbase has announced that it has started operating in India.
Coinbase announced that it has launched the Coinbase Card in partnership with Visa.
The company reported a loss of $430 million in the first quarter of the year.
The Reserve Bank of India has announced that the exchange has ceased operations in India.
Coinbase announced that it has partnered with investment giant BlackRock.
Coinbase announced that it made a loss of $ 1.1 billion in the second quarter of the year.
The stock market announced that it had laid off more than 60 employees, citing economic conditions.
Kraken
Kraken exchange announced that after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, 10 million dollars of aid will be distributed to Ukrainian citizens.
Kraken CEO announced that they will close their office in San Francisco, citing judicial incidents.
The exchange managed to get a cryptocurrency license from Abu Dhabi.
The Kraken exchange has been investigated for violating US sanctions.
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell has announced that he is stepping down from his position.
The stock market announced that it laid off 30% of its employees.
Kraken has decided to cease operations in Japan.
KuCoin
KuCoin raised its valuation to $150 million to explore the web3 ecosystem.
The company announced a 491% increase in the number of annual users.
KuCoin attended the Blockchain Economy Istanbul Summit held in Istanbul.
The company announced that it will work with Mazarv to audit its assets.
Crypto.com
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has signed a partnership agreement with LeBron James, one of the most famous stars of the NBA.
Crypto.com has become the official sponsor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The company announced that it has received approval from the Greek Cypriot side.
Crypto.com has entered the South Korean market.
Crypto.com has released proof-of-reserve data.
Huobi
Huobi introduced its blockchain-focused investment arm, Ivy Blocks.
Huobi has received approval from the Australian regulator.
The company announced that it has received approval from the British Virgin Islands.
Houbi announced that it has sold some of its shares to About Capital.
Huobi announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with the Poloniex exchange.
The company announced that they have signed an agreement with Visa Card.
FTX
Undoubtedly, the most talked about cryptocurrency exchange of 2022 was FTX. FTX, which was the second largest cryptocurrency exchange after Binance for a period, suffered a major collapse in November, and this created a great earthquake effect in the crypto money ecosystem.
The company reached a valuation of $32 billion on January 31, 2022, with an investment of $400 million.
FTX has signed partnerships for advertising and promotion with famous names such as Larry David, Katy Perry and Naomi Osaka.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has requested to meet with Elon Musk for the Twitter acquisition.
FTX has acquired Canadian-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitvo.
Crypto loan firm BlockFi has secured a $250 million loan from FTX.
FTX has agreed to buy BlockFi.
After Binance sold its FTT tokens, FTX allegedly faced a major liquidity crisis. Shortly after the allegations surfaced, it was announced that Binance was in talks to buy FTX.
Sam Bankman-Fried thanked CZ in his statement and stated that he was very helpful to them. However, after the events started to come to light, Binance announced that they withdrew from the deal, saying that FTX was in a much worse situation than they expected.
FTX has announced that it has stopped withdrawals.
Sam Bankman-Fried admitted that he had screwed up and announced that he was stepping down as CEO, after announcing that he had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on behalf of FTX.
The SEC and CFTC announced that an investigation has been launched into FTX.
After FTX declared bankruptcy, it was hacked and over $400 million in cryptocurrencies were stolen from the exchange.
MASAK announced that an investigation has been launched on FTX.
It turned out that FTX gave unlimited loans to Alameda Research, the trading company affiliated with SBF.
Sam Bankman-Fried was detained at his home in the Bahamas.
SBF was extradited to the United States after his trial and released on bail of $250 million in the United States.
