In the year 2023, the crypto industry witnessed a series of events that left a long-lasting impact on the crypto landscape. From the start of the Spot Bitcoin ETF mania to the increase in regulatory enforcement on major crypto organizations, 2023 was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for crypto enthusiasts and institutional investors alike. So here are the top 5 events that shook the crypto industry to its core in 2023.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s largest asset management company, BlackRock<\/a> was the first major traditional investment firm to apply for a Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). BlackRock submitted its application for a Spot Bitcoin ETF<\/a> to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 15, 2023.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Following the asset management firm\u2019s application, various companies like Grayscale<\/a>, Ark Invest, WisdomTree, VanEck<\/a>, and others followed suit. Despite consistent approval delays by the US SEC, BlackRock utilized the time to revise its Spot Bitcoin ETF filing, incorporating cash redemptions<\/a> to improve the fund\u2019s approval odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Founder and former CEO of failed crypto exchange, FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> was found guilty of all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering on November 2, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 31-year-old billionaire was convicted unanimously by the jury<\/a> for misappropriating billions of dollars of customer funds and defrauding lenders to subsidiary company, Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried could potentially face a maximum of 115 years in prison.<\/a> His sentencing date is scheduled for March 28, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n CZ Resignation From Binance Causes A Stir In Crypto Community<\/p>\n One of the most shocking events of 2023, saw the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao <\/a>officially stepping down from his role as the CEO of Binance on November 21, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The former Binance CEO pleaded guilty<\/a> to breaking US anti-money laundering laws and resigned as part of a $4.3 billion settlement by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n CZ has also been restricted from leaving the United States until his court case is over as the court believes his vast resources make him a potential flight risk. And returning to Dubai which does not share an extradition treaty with the US could make things problematic.<\/p>\n\n XRP Ruling In SEC Case<\/p>\n Coming as a major victory in a three-year-long legal battle between Ripple and the SEC, US District Judge Analisa Torres ruled in favor<\/a> of Ripple on July 13, 2023. The ruling declared that programmatic sales of XRP did not qualify as a security.\u00a0<\/p>\n This decision offered much-needed regulatory clarity for XRP, enabling the cryptocurrency to resume trading on major crypto exchanges that had delisted it during the SEC\u2019s 2020 lawsuit.<\/a><\/p>\n Grayscale And Coinbase Rage Against The SEC<\/p>\n On August 29, 2023, world-leading crypto asset management company Grayscale won its lawsuit <\/a>against the US SEC. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave a final ruling to the regulatory agency to terminate its rejection of the asset management\u2019s Spot Bitcoin ETF application.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n On a similar note, Coinbase<\/a>, one of the largest US crypto exchanges, filed a lawsuit against the SEC in April 2023 aiming to compel the regulator to provide regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Subsequently, the SEC sued Coinbase <\/a>on June 6, 2023, alleging that the crypto exchange had violated securities laws by operating as an unregistered broker. As a result, Coinbase formally requested the court to dismiss<\/a> the SEC\u2019s case against it. However, the case is still ongoing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p>\n In the year 2023, the crypto industry witnessed a series of events that left a long-lasting impact on the crypto landscape. From the start of the Spot Bitcoin ETF mania to the increase in regulatory enforcement on major crypto organizations, 2023 was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for crypto enthusiasts and institutional investors alike. So here are the top 5 events that shook the crypto industry to its core in 2023.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s largest asset management company, BlackRock<\/a> was the first major traditional investment firm to apply for a Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). BlackRock submitted its application for a Spot Bitcoin ETF<\/a> to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 15, 2023.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Following the asset management firm\u2019s application, various companies like Grayscale<\/a>, Ark Invest, WisdomTree, VanEck<\/a>, and others followed suit. Despite consistent approval delays by the US SEC, BlackRock utilized the time to revise its Spot Bitcoin ETF filing, incorporating cash redemptions<\/a> to improve the fund\u2019s approval odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Founder and former CEO of failed crypto exchange, FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> was found guilty of all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering on November 2, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 31-year-old billionaire was convicted unanimously by the jury<\/a> for misappropriating billions of dollars of customer funds and defrauding lenders to subsidiary company, Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried could potentially face a maximum of 115 years in prison.<\/a> His sentencing date is scheduled for March 28, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n CZ Resignation From Binance Causes A Stir In Crypto Community<\/p>\n One of the most shocking events of 2023, saw the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao <\/a>officially stepping down from his role as the CEO of Binance on November 21, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The former Binance CEO pleaded guilty<\/a> to breaking US anti-money laundering laws and resigned as part of a $4.3 billion settlement by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n CZ has also been restricted from leaving the United States until his court case is over as the court believes his vast resources make him a potential flight risk. And returning to Dubai which does not share an extradition treaty with the US could make things problematic.<\/p>\n XRP Ruling In SEC Case<\/p>\n Coming as a major victory in a three-year-long legal battle between Ripple and the SEC, US District Judge Analisa Torres ruled in favor<\/a> of Ripple on July 13, 2023. The ruling declared that programmatic sales of XRP did not qualify as a security.\u00a0<\/p>\n This decision offered much-needed regulatory clarity for XRP, enabling the cryptocurrency to resume trading on major crypto exchanges that had delisted it during the SEC\u2019s 2020 lawsuit.<\/a><\/p>\n Grayscale And Coinbase Rage Against The SEC<\/p>\n On August 29, 2023, world-leading crypto asset management company Grayscale won its lawsuit <\/a>against the US SEC. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave a final ruling to the regulatory agency to terminate its rejection of the asset management\u2019s Spot Bitcoin ETF application.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n On a similar note, Coinbase<\/a>, one of the largest US crypto exchanges, filed a lawsuit against the SEC in April 2023 aiming to compel the regulator to provide regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Subsequently, the SEC sued Coinbase <\/a>on June 6, 2023, alleging that the crypto exchange had violated securities laws by operating as an unregistered broker. As a result, Coinbase formally requested the court to dismiss<\/a> the SEC\u2019s case against it. However, the case is still ongoing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blockchain"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34696,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34686\/revisions\/34696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptocornercafe.com\/cafe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sam Bankman-Fried Fraud Conviction<\/h2>\n
Blackrock Spot Bitcoin ETF Rocks Crypto<\/h2>\n
Sam Bankman-Fried Fraud Conviction<\/h2>\n