In 2022, the marketplace cap of cryptocurrencies skyrocketed 286% year over year, uplifting a $two.17 trillion industry into the stratosphere. Just, with this vast creation of wealth comes the explosion of peculiar tales throughout the sector. From the suspicious death of multiple crypto-evangelists and crypto scams involving hacked Twitter accounts of heads of states to much-promoted celebrity NFT drops that bombed at the sale, 2022 was truly a wild year for the cryptocurrency internet. Without further ado, permit'due south look at the top strangest stories that have absorbed blockchain enthusiasts this year.

No 1. The death of John McAfee

On June 23, John McAfee, crypto-evangelist and namesake founder of antivirus software company McAfee, was found expressionless in a Spanish jail jail cell in an apparent suicide past hanging. The United States, one of the few countries that impose a taxation-by-citizenship regime — that is, Americans are taxed on their worldwide income each year regardless of their state of residence — had been seeking McAfee'southward extradition for failing to file his income revenue enhancement returns from 2022 to 2022 and allegedly not reporting income for his crypto projects. McAfee was arrested in Espana awaiting U.S. tax evasion charges. Back in 2022, McAfee was allegedly charging as much equally $105,000 per Tweet to promote initial coin offerings (ICOs) on social media.

In another Tweet ii years prior, McAfee stated: "If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whacked," leading to conspiracy theories that the man of affairs's death may take resulted from an orchestrated assail. McAfee is remembered for his pioneering ventures in programming, early adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and his eccentric personality. He famously said that he would "swallow [his ain] dick on national telly" if the toll of BTC did not reach $500,000 past 2022. In November, McAfee'south original software development visitor was acquired by private investors for $14 billion. McAfee is survived by his widow Janice McAfee and his children (of which McAfee claimed to have at least 47).

No 2. India'south prime number minister appears to tweet out a BTC scam

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account was hacked over again in Dec, with scammers claiming that Republic of india had adopted BTC as national tender, and 500 BTC are available for firsthand distribution to Indian nationals who sign upward via a phishing link. The tweet was briefly viewable to the public and Modi's 73.iv one thousand thousand followers before information technology was taken down. The yr prior, a cybercrime grouping known equally "John Wick" hacked the prime minister's Twitter account and posted messages asking his followers to make crypto donations.

Several hypotheses exist as to why Modi became a target of these Bitcoin scam hacks. One possible motive was revenge for the ongoing Bitcoin scandal in India's Karnataka state. According to Indian media outlets, Karnataka police force and governmental officials allegedly received 12,900 BTC in bribes from hacker Srikrishna Ramesh, who was arrested for hacking iii crypto exchanges and other websites in the previous years. When Karnataka chief government minister Basavaraj Bommai asked most the event in a meeting with Modi in November, the prime number minister allegedly brushed off the issue. India currently faces a chaotic regulatory surround regarding the state of crypto affairs in the land.

Narendra Modi's deleted Bitcoin Tweet | Source: India Today / Twitter

No 3. ConstitutionDAO'southward "Uno Contrary"

Back in November, a grouping of retail investors formed a decentralized autonomous arrangement, or DAO, intending to puddle money to purchase the concluding privately-owned start-edition impress copy of the The states Constitution at a public auction hosted past Sotheby'south. Constitution DAO raised $49 one thousand thousand via Ether (ETH) donations from 17,437 participants. On the day of the auction, all the same, the piece of the constitution was outbid past Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, whose business firm owned hedge funds that shorted Gamestop shares to the discontent of many retail investors promoting the stock.

The ConstitutionDAO disbanded shortly afterward and issued refunds to its stakeholders. While it may exist that the "proletariat" investors have nothing to lose but their bondage, information technology's clear that the "conservative" won't allow them to be unshackled so easily.

No 4. Elon, Tesla and Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies have been on a wild roller coaster ride this year, perchance in part to Tesla'south CEO Elon Musk. Promoting digital meme currencies such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and aside, Musk's indecisive approach when information technology came to Tesla's Bitcoin adoption created and wiped out many fortunes.

In March, Musk sent investors into a buying frenzy afterwards announcing that Tesla would accept BTC as payment for consumers to buy its electric cars. Two months later, the momentum reversed and turned into a total-on marketplace rout after Musk dropped the plans, citing environmental concerns with network mining. Then in October, Tesla said it would reconsider adding BTC every bit a method of payment. Through all this, yet, Musk became more popular as a helmsman, leading retail investors and crypto enthusiasts alike through the storms of capital markets. He was recently elected Person of the Year by Times Magazine.

No v. The unsold NFTs of Tupac Shakur

For 29 years, former hip-hop announcer Lawrence "Loupy D" Dotson held on to a series of photographs of famed-rapper Tupac Shakur. The photos were taken at the rapper's "2Pacalypse Now" debut album release party in 1992 and were announced for public auction in the form of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, in November of this year. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Loupy D stated: "I also considered photo exhibits, museums, all kinds of ways. With NFTs, information technology's not just nigh the nugget itself but the story backside the asset. I knew I needed to go my story out at that place in the public eye."

The OpenSea auction had notable printing coverage beforehand, including from RollingStone and Fortune.com. For a calendar week, the sale continued. Still, not a single piece was sold out of the 18 Tupac photo NFTs. In his disappointment, Loupy D took them off the platform and opened them upwards for private inquiries. But, to be off-white, the photographer may accept been request too much, as each NFT piece had a minimum bid of 25 ETH ($100,000). Before this twelvemonth, another artist asked 200 ETH ($1 1000000 at the fourth dimension) for a photo of Tupac Shakur taken 14 days before his death in a bulldoze-by shooting. That NFT has not sold despite the price dropping down to x ETH. Simply asking likewise much or has Tupac'southward popularity faded? You be the judge.