2022-11-11
The second-largest exchange implodes in a week — Gox’s lesson, retaught.
In early November 2022, a leaked balance sheet revealed that FTX — then the second-largest crypto exchange, fronted by the industry’s most celebrated founder — was lending customer deposits to its trading arm. A bank run followed; within a week FTX filed for bankruptcy, and its founder was later convicted of fraud.
FTX was not a Bitcoin failure — no protocol was breached — but it was Bitcoin’s custody lesson retaught at scale: the counterparty is the risk. Withdrawals to self-custody surged industry-wide, and “proof of reserves” became a customer demand rather than a nicety.
The full timeline → · What Bitcoin traded at, year by year → · What buying back then would mean today →