Weekly Flip Thru: End of Year Report from Accenture Shows Crypto Curiosity Remains Strong as 2022 Comes to an End

Good tidings for you, dear crypto news reader! As we prepare to close the books on 2022, one thing we can say with crystal clarity is that this year didn’t lack momentous crypto news. And the year is holding true to this pattern by gifting us a couple of juicy headlines to wrap things up with a bow, like FTX’s former CEO flying back to the United States to face the (legal) music and a recently published report by Accenture showing crypto curiosity remains strong -- despite 2022’s prolific market volatility.  

Here are the latest bits of crypto news to come across our desks as we say goodbye to another year. 

Consumer Payments Report Shows Crypto Curiosity Remains Strong Despite Market Volatility (Cointelegraph) 

Crypto markets are going to emerge from 2022 a bit more battered and bruised than they were a year ago, but that doesn’t mean the crypto-curious spirit is broken. Accenture published its annual Global Payments Report, and the findings show that one in five survey respondents holds some sort of cryptocurrency. Among those who reported they hold crypto, 28% said they purchased it as a long-term investment. The next leading reason to buy crypto, according to the report? Straight-up curiosity. 

Ex-CEO of FTX is Homeward Bound for the Holidays...In Custody (NBC) 

Former head of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX Samuel Bankman-Fried is returning to the United States, where he will face charges of criminal conspiracy and fraud brought by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. The collapse of FTX, which was once valued at $32 billion, came about in rapid fashion during the penultimate month of 2022. However, prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried was engaged in fraud at the once-mighty crypto company dating back to 2019. 

Bankman-Fried was arrested at his home in the Bahamas on December 12, 2022 and was being held without bail. His extradition to the United States happened a little over a week later, where he may be able to post bail. If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face decades in prison. 

Are Regulators in Washington Rethinking Crypto? (The New Yorker) 

A timely summary of crypto’s regulatory landscape in the United States published in The New Yorker ponders whether a post-FTX world could cause lawmakers to rethink their strategies regarding the crypto industry. Some Washington insiders speculated that a world with stronger crypto regulations could have prevented the FTX collapse; other commentators have dismissed this viewpoint as unfounded. Either way, there is currently a lot of jockeying for position between two federal agencies to oversee crypto markets: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).  

Lobbying efforts by FTX’s disgraced CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried are being reexamined after he went on a spending spree leading up to the U.S. midterm elections. The prospect of a divided Congress following the midterm elections also paints an unclear picture for the near-term future of crypto regulation coming from Washington, D.C.  

Get ready to toast the new year with a bit of bubbly and crypto news! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates that you can ingest all year round. Kicking off a new year is exciting, but don’t forget that all crypto transactions are final and irreversible. Protect your personal information always when buying, selling, or trading digital assets.