The offer: Park money in so-called crypto wallets – which are meant to function in a manner similar to savings bank accounts – and earn high interest rates, sometimes in double digits. An advertisement for Bitcoin on a street in Hong Kong, on Febru Crypto ‘ice age’Ĭryptocurrency trading platforms have traditionally drawn in customers with the promise of quick returns on investment.

To stay alive, companies will face one challenge above all else: winning back customer trust. But the sector will likely face increased regulation and an extended period of uncertainty. The short answer: As a concept, cryptocurrencies will probably survive, experts told Al Jazeera. The FTX commercial with David ends with the tagline, “Don’t be like Larry.” Today, many of the 420 million people estimated to have invested in crypto might well be wishing they had been more like Larry. Bitcoin, the world’s best-known cryptocurrency, is today worth only a third of what it was at its peak in October 2021. Its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December and has been charged with fraud. Crypto lenders Voyager Digital and Celsius Network – which had both loaned money to Three Arrows Capital – soon filed for bankruptcy.Īnd in November, FTX – the popular crypto trading platform in the Super Bowl advertisement – imploded. Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital abruptly shut down. In May last year, the TerraUSD and Luna coins crashed, losing almost all of their value overnight and wiping out $45bn from the crypto market in a day. With multiple big crypto firms collapsing in recent months, the sector that promised an alternative to the traditional global financial model now faces existential questions.

Told that the platform is a “safe and easy way to get into crypto”, David’s character says: “Ehhh, I don’t think so – and I’m never wrong about this stuff.” One of the advertisements that night had comedian Larry David playing a Luddite dismissing humankind’s biggest inventions – from the wheel to Edison’s lightbulb to, the commercial suggests, the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Kenya ready to privatise 35 companies amid cash crunch, says president list 2 of 4 How a focus on Chinese buyers ‘doomed’ Malaysia’s Forest City list 3 of 4 Court grants bail to ex-Nigerian central bank chief facing fraud charges list 4 of 4 Nigerian workers’ wages diminish as inflation rises and gov’t revenue dips end of list

Edison bust bank