Restoring trust in digital assets

Written by Helen Disney from The Realization Group

2022 proved tumultuous for the blockchain and digital assets industry as one destructive event after another rocked the markets. The de-pegging of the Terra/Luna stablecoin, the $612m worth of Ethereum and USDC stolen in the Ronin Bridge attack and finally, the spectacular disintegration of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its affiliate, Alameda Research, battered the industry and shattered the trust that many had in decentralised financial services (DeFi). By December 2022, cryptocurrency market cap was down 85%, and a new ‘crypto winter’ had set in. And, just as the dust began to settle, in 2023 we witnessed the collapse of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse, further weakening the market and signifying tougher economic times ahead. But, despite these challenges, the view is not entirely bleak. New technologies will continue to be developed, creating new possibilities for financial services. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is fast changing our concept of how money a…