1. The 2014 Mentougou Incident: Bitcoin plummeted by 80%
Time: February 2014
Mentougou (MT.GOX) was once the largest Bitcoin trading platform in the world, with a daily trading volume accounting for 70% of the global market at one point.
However, in February 2014, MT.GOX announced that approximately 850,000 bitcoins were lost due to a hacker attack, accounting for over 7% of the total Bitcoin supply.
This event directly led to an 80% drop in Bitcoin's price and became one of the most severe trust crises in the history of the cryptocurrency space.
2. The '9.4 Incident' in 2017: Market value evaporated by 80% in an instant
Time: September 4, 2017
Chinese regulatory authorities officially halted ICO financing and restricted the operation of cryptocurrency trading platforms, triggering a severe market reaction. Within days, the entire cryptocurrency market saw its value evaporate by over 80%.
The '9.4 Incident' not only wiped out a large number of risky projects but also made people realize that policies and regulations are always the core variables that cannot be avoided in the cryptocurrency space.
3. The 3.12 crash in March 2020: Ethereum hit a low of $80
Time: March 12, 2020
This day is referred to as 'Black Thursday' in the cryptocurrency space. Amidst the global financial market crash due to pandemic panic, the cryptocurrency market fell synchronously, with Bitcoin dropping more than 50% in a single day and Ethereum falling below $80.
This event once again proves that the cryptocurrency space is not insulated from the global macroeconomy, and risk interlinkages genuinely exist.
4. The May 19, 2021 liquidation wave: 600,000 people went to zero overnight
Time: May 19, 2021
Under the influence of multiple negative factors (policy adjustments, major institutions cashing out, etc.), Bitcoin and mainstream cryptocurrencies collectively plummeted, with over 600,000 people liquidated in the contract market within 24 hours, totaling a liquidation amount of 40 billion yuan.
This liquidation wave once again reminds us: Leverage is not a wealth amplifier; if misused, it is a risk accelerator.
5. The 2022 LUNA collapse incident: A crisis of confidence in DeFi
Time: May 2022
The mechanism of LUNA and its algorithmic stablecoin UST failed in extreme markets, UST decoupled, LUNA nearly went to zero, with over 40 billion dollars in market value evaporated.
This event had a severe impact on the DeFi ecosystem and prompted the entire cryptocurrency space to rethink the feasibility of so-called 'algorithmic stablecoins.'
6. The 2022 FTX collapse: A collapse of trust in centralized exchanges
Time: November 2022
FTX, once hailed as 'the most Wall Street-endorsed,' collapsed due to fund misappropriation and financial chaos, with the founder arrested, triggering a chain reaction in the cryptocurrency space, leading to heavy losses for numerous institutions and investors.
The FTX collapse is considered a significant collapse event in the cryptocurrency trust system, with impacts far exceeding that of the single platform itself.
Respect risk and understand the cycles; from Mentougou to FTX, each black swan has brought severe pain to the cryptocurrency space and has pushed the industry towards some form of evolution.
They jointly remind us:
Any seemingly safe platform and project may hide systemic risks.
Leverage and emotions are the biggest killers in the cryptocurrency space.
Trust is the scarcest and most easily overlooked aspect in the cryptocurrency space.
