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Taking stock of the biggest winners and losers in the currency circle in 2023

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SBF and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler are the losers of the year, while Justin Sun and Tether CTO are the winners of the year.

Original Title: Crypto in 2023: Top Winners and Losers

Original Author: Francesco

Translated by: Sharon, BlockBeats

Editor's Note:

As the year draws to a close, crypto researcher Francesco looks back on the major events in the cryptocurrency field in 2023 and summarizes his biggest winners and losers. Among them, he believes that SBF, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, US Senator Elisabeth Warren, former Binance CEO CZ, and maximalists are the biggest losers of the year, while US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Tron founder Justin Sun, Tether's current CTO Paolo Ardoino, L2 track, Solana, and friend.tech are the biggest winners of the year. At the same time, he predicts that friend.tech is likely to make a comeback in 2024. BlockBeats has translated the original article as follows:

In this article, I decided to try something different and look back on the past year by creating two lists: winners and losers of 2023.

Let's start with those who hope for a better year.

2023 Losers

SBF

When mentioning SBF here, it may represent a larger category of those smart people who think they can deceive themselves and cover up their sins through bribery and large amounts of money. However, SBF is now a first-person example proving that this is not always the case.

The previous bear market cycle has shown who the naked swimmers are, and the most classic revolving door has become the revolving door between cryptocurrency companies and prisons. The United States is trying to prove that anyone who deceives those in power will eventually be punished by the law.

However, SBF has also demonstrated the problem that exists in our system, that is, the protection of the media and government can be bought. As long as enough money is paid, anyone can turn a blind eye to the problem.

As mentioned above, people like SBF actually include all other scammers. They behave very cool and arrogant (I see you, Do Kwon), and eventually end up being completely locked up in prison for their crimes.

Gary Gensler

I feel sorry for this person, and I can only think of a few other political figures who are as embarrassing as him. He is clearly acting out of malice, as evidenced by his past statements. His persecution of cryptocurrency was a blood sacrifice he made to advance his career, showing his ruthless masters that he is a good boy and will do everything in his power to maintain the status quo.

I really sympathize with this person, and I'm pretty sure he will cry loudly when he gets home. To me, this person is the biggest loser.

Elisabeth Warren

Imagine someone who is against both banks and cryptocurrencies. Now imagine that your entire career has been spent as a Democratic Party member who is against the biggest tool that can help decentralize banking and potentially provide them with real competition.

However, by selling your soul, you can become such a person.

Is there anything else to say? If possible, please explain to her the operation principle of cryptocurrency. She doesn't know, but she has been advocating for cryptographic solutions for years, until these solutions were developed and now we are back to the status quo.

What a loser…...

CZ

It only makes sense to list CZ as the fourth in this list.

CZ has long been a spokesperson for the cryptocurrency industry. He has pleaded guilty and reached a multi-billion dollar settlement agreement with Binance. However, this is not the end of it. CZ will face trial in the first quarter of 2024 and is currently prohibited from leaving the United States.

Looking back, this may seem natural or unimaginable, depending on which side of sympathy you stand on when it comes to Binance. For the entire cryptocurrency industry, this means eliminating a systemic risk, namely the elimination of exchanges that may be considered too big to fail.

Despite this, I can't help but sympathize with CZ. It's difficult for exchanges like Binance to operate across multiple regulations. The message here is clear: you may be able to resist in the short term, but if they want to, US authorities will catch you, even if you're an offshore entity operating in the US.

Extremism

The biggest loser in 2023 may be extreme fanaticism.

The continuation of Ethereum's expansion roadmap has provided a clear path for the evolution of blockchain, with the development and deployment of L2, Optimistic, and ZK Rollup, new data availability solutions, Retaking, and new L1s focused on gaming and parallelization (Monad, Blast, Neon).

This path is built through modularity and interoperability, rather than isolated ecosystems. Those who bet on closed systems have failed to fully leverage the network effects of cross-protocols and networks, and now face difficulties; those who rely on their network's technological superiority for survival are now worried about their arguments in the cross-chain ecosystem.

On the other hand, those who bet on cooperation and coordination benefit the most, adopting a win-win approach that is not always centered on their own interests. In 2024, becoming an extreme fanatic will be very embarrassing.

Next, let's take a look at the biggest winners in 2023.

2023 Winners

Coinbase

Brian is our favorite tech bald guy so far.

We don't have enough space in this article to highlight every positive development of Coinbase this year. Nevertheless, in my opinion, Coinbase remains the largest company that embodies the spirit of cryptocurrency, and we have seen them challenge the SEC's ruling and take it to court multiple times.

除了作为 CEX 并且关心自己的业务之外，Coinbase 也是行业内一股向善的力量，值得跻身 2023 年赢家之列。尽管数字本身的相关性有限，但 Coinbase 的股票自今年年初以来一直表现出色。

Translation:

Aside from being a CEX and caring about its own business, Coinbase is also a force for good in the industry, worthy of being among the winners in 2023. Although the relevance of numbers themselves is limited, Coinbase's stock has performed well since the beginning of this year.

During a difficult year for trading, Coinbase successfully shifted most of its revenue to non-trading income. Among them, considering that most ETFs propose Coinbase as a custodian, their custodial business performed particularly well in 2024.

孙宇晨

Sun Yuchen

Sun Yuchen is one of the god-like OG figures in the cryptocurrency world. The boundary between him and Tron is more blurred than ever before. However, we cannot ignore Sun Yuchen's position among the winners in 2023.