5 Colapsos de Criptomonedas que Sacudieron la Industria

Since the entrance of altcoins, the crypto market has seen an explosion of creativity, new strategies, and spectacular failures. As with any new technology, there are growing pains associated with innovation.  Now, whether these pains originate from bad programming, management, security, or timing is what makes coin collapses so interesting. Here are the 5 largest coin collapses in crypto history.

1. LUNA/UST – El colapso de $40 mil millones que sacudió DeFi

LUNA entered the market in enero de 2018. The project was unique in that it introduced a high-performance blockchain, the LUNA token, and an algorithmic stablecoin dubbed UST. This combination promised to be a game changer for DeFi users who saw the option to easily dodge market volatility as a big plus alongside the Terra ecosystem’s offerings.

Un stablecoin algorítmico se diferencia de las versiones tradicionales en que no tiene reservas de moneda fiat ni activos fuera de cadena respaldándolo. En su lugar, una ecuación matemática ajustará una reserva llena con otra criptomoneda para mantener la stablecoin anclada a su valor. En este caso, UST tenía una paridad 1:1 dólar.

Colapsos Cripto

Todo iba según lo planeado hasta mayo de 2022, cuando la repentina volatilidad del mercado hizo que UST perdiera su anclaje. Desafortunadamente, esa volatilidad también afectó el valor del activo subyacente del token, LUNA. Este cambio de valor significó que el algoritmo no pudiera cumplir con las reservas necesarias para mantener el token anclado a su valor de $1.

Recognizing the time it took for the project to regain its peg, traders began to worry about LUNA and its operations. They began selling LUNA in droves. In response, the developers issued more tokens. This maneuver only led to hyperinflation, and within hours, the writing was on the wall.  Consequently, the LUNA/UST crash was a massive kick in the charts to traders who saw the project lose $40B in value in less than 24 hours.

2. Mantra – Alegaciones continuas de dumping interno

The Mantra OM crash is the most recent token collapse to make the list. This high-level fiasco is still under investigation as the project’s developers claim that market manipulation was to blame for the sudden 90% loss in value over 24 hours.

Mantra se promocionó como un ecosistema de activos del mundo real (Real World Asset) a nivel empresarial. RWA se refiere a la transferencia de activos a una blockchain. Por ejemplo, podrías tokenizar tu coche convirtiendo el título en un token. De esta manera, ahora has creado un activo blockchain RWA.

RWA token holders could transfer ownership of their assets as easily as tokens. They could also break large assets into smaller tokens, allowing more investors to access the market with less capital. All of these factors made the project a draw for RWA traders.

El colapso del precio del token OM genera controversia

On April 13, everything changed for OM token holders when their Sunday morning was shattered by news of the token dropping from $6.30 to below $0.50 in value in hours. The losses happened so fast that many in the market claimed that some sort of insider trading or rug pull was involved.

Estas acusaciones fueron respondidas por los desarrolladores del proyecto, quienes afirman que ninguno de sus tokens fue vendido. Sin embargo, investigaciones posteriores descubrieron que millones de tokens OM fueron compartidos con dos miembros de la comunidad. En respuesta al insider trading y a las ventas de los miembros, los desarrolladores y los supuestos traders afirman que las carteras no están asociadas con ellos de ninguna manera.

Estos dos miembros descargaron metódicamente sus bolsas en intercambios centralizados durante las pérdidas. Estas acciones fueron confirmadas por Binance y OKX. Ambos intercambios también señalaron que habían marcado las acciones del token OM porque notaron un uso incrementado del token para asegurar préstamos.

The allegations against the developer continue to stack up. Some now believe this was a long, well-planned plot. They point out that the developers decided to switch from a limited supply token to a deflationary strategy. This maneuver allowed them to effectively issue double the tokens, which appear to have been used to take out loans. As more allegations come forth, both the crypto community and regulators await answers to account for the sudden drop in market cap from $6B+ to just around $681M.

3. Bitconnect – El infame colapso Ponzi cripto de $2,75 mil millones

This next crypto collapse was one of the most spectacular ever to have occurred. The Bitconnect ecosystem entered the market in 2016 amid the crypto breakout year. The crypto market was seeing massive adoption at this time, and people were eager to participate in any way possible. As a result, this desire led to an influx of scammers as the tech was still a mystery to most.

Bitconnect ingresó al mercado como un servicio de préstamo P2P cripto. Los usuarios podían unirse y enviar su cripto a Bitconnect. Recibían tokens BCC a cambio. Los fondos depositados se prestaban a otros usuarios y los intereses se pagaban al poseedor del token BCC. Ese interés se promocionaba como alto, hasta un 16 % APY. Estas acciones se producían junto con inversiones y operaciones que el proyecto alegaba ayudaban a aumentar las reservas.

However, in enero de 2018, despite a flurry of promotions and unforgettable seminars where the participants yelled Bitconnect like warriors in battle, the project collapsed. Like others on this list, the project lost 90% of its value in less than 24 hours.

Bitconnect desenmascarado como un esquema Ponzi clásico

Further investigation would reveal Bitconnect to be nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. The developers had successfully scammed traders out of billions, and it wasn’t long before regulators wanted blood. The SEC alleges Bitconnect defrauded investors out of $2.4B in funds.

The project’s failure wiped $2.75B in market capitalization and left a bad reputation for blockchain lending services that would continue for years. Consequently, Bitconnect remains a cautionary tale of how you should avoid projects that promise too much.

4. Celsius Network  – Cómo $1,2 mil millones en cripto fueron congelados

Celcius was another P2P lending protocol that promised to make the average token holder into a bank. The network shared many characteristics with Bitconnect in that users would deposit assets and receive CEL tokens representing their holdings.

Celsius Network ganó popularidad rápidamente. El proyecto mostró más de $8 mil millones en préstamos y más de $12 mil millones en activos bajo su control durante su pico. Parte de su estrategia consistía en tomar fondos de clientes y reinvertirlos en otros proyectos cripto, operaciones y servicios de generación de rendimiento.

Cabe destacar que Celsius tenía una estructura de cero comisiones y inscripción abierta, características que atrajeron a los usuarios de DeFi. Esta estrategia ayudó al proyecto a obtener una gran base de usuarios y expandir sus operaciones y tenencias. El plan iba bien hasta junio de 2022.

During this bear market, the value of cryptocurrencies dropped sharply, causing the lender to call in its loans. At the same time, it had its loans called in. Further investigation revealed that Celcius was heavily invested in some shady operations. In particular, the FTX exchange.

Celsius congela retiros mientras se propaga el pánico

On June 2, Celsius users began to experience issues when they attempted to withdraw their funds. By June 13th, the community received an email stating that the pause was to stabilize liquidity. This action fell in line with a larger market crash, which saw CEL lose a third of its value alongside other tokens.

Less than a month later, Celsius filed for bankruptcy. The project’s founders cited poor investments and asset deployment as the reasons for the failure. Now, the company’s founder faces charges and fines from the SEC and FTC. Additionally, Celcius agreed to pay a massive $4.7B fine, one of the largest in history.

5. FTX – $8 mil millones desaparecen en el fraude más audaz de cripto

At the top of the list for most audacious cryptocurrency collapses has to be the FTX exchange. This story has mesmerized the media for over a year. The FTX team, led by Sam Bankman-Fried, purposely misled investors and traders to the tune of billions.

FTX se promocionó como uno de los intercambios de mejor rendimiento en el mercado cripto solo días antes de su colapso masivo. Investigaciones posteriores demostraron que el equipo había apropiado y prestado fondos de clientes utilizando varias entidades comerciales que controlaban, como Alameda Research.

Fuente – ABC News

High-risk investments became evident after the FTX team reached out to Binance to help float their operations. Binance, rather than help, pointed out the inconsistencies in their finances. These actions helped others to realize that FTX was running a scam operation. However, the damage was done.

Fraude de FTX expuesto: gasto extravagante y miles de millones desaparecidos

Notably, Prosecutors can prove that Bankman-Fried spent billions in customer funds to pay for his lavish lifestyle. The court revealed that of the $11.3B he supposedly lent to his investment firm, Alameda Research, only $2.3B was ever found.

Unlike many of the other stories on this list, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in defrauding traders of +$8B in funds. The true scale of the losses may never be truly registered, as FTX’s collapse led to several other operations failing in quick succession.

Lo que estos colapsos nos enseñan sobre la inversión en cripto

All of these tales of spectacular coin collapses share some common points. For one, there’s a mix of new technology and ROI opportunities presented to the market. There’s nothing wrong with investing in new projects or strategies, but you should be aware that the risks are much higher than going with proven, effective options like Bitcoin.

Puede parecer frustrante que la mayoría de la gente nunca pueda permitirse un Bitcoin completo. Sin embargo, eso no es algo malo. Simplemente indica el éxito del proyecto y cómo sigue ganando valor con el tiempo. Solo han pasado 15 años, y Bitcoin ha pasado de $0,50 a más de $100 mil.

Even at today’s value of around $80k, it’s still a great option for those seeking to store value and participate in the decentralized economy with minimal risk. Stacking Satoshis may not be as exciting as participating in the latest DeFi trend, but for those seeking to avoid collapse, Bitcoin is a wise option.

Podrían venir más colapsos cripto – Mantente informado

While these coin collapses are enough to make you want to hold your Trezor tight at night, they should not deter you from exploring the decentralized economy. The main thing to remember is that if it sounds too good to be true, chances are you don’t want to be involved. Can you think of any other spectacular crypto collapses? If so, leave a comment and share.

You can learn more about exciting blockchain projects aquí.