Where the panel landed
The panel mostly agreed that FTX was the unavoidable center of the year, even when categories nominally pointed elsewhere. Thomas Hunt kept returning to SBF, FTX, and old-fashioned fraud as the organizing frame, while Dan Eve tried to keep room for Lightning, LNBits, Nostr, Craig Wright's courtroom losses, and central banks as accidental Bitcoin educators. Michael Dupree was terser but generally aligned, naming Kraken, FTX, Lightning, and regulatory fallout as the practical edges of the year.
What they were watching
The panel's directional consensus was lower for the next week, with Dan expecting an end-of-December selloff and Mike saying he always guesses lower. The organic price discussion centered less on a specific Bitcoin level and more on market damage from FTX, Tesla's selling, El Salvador being underwater since adoption, and the industry's long drawdown. The Magic 8 Ball broke against the panel's mood with a positive answer.
LNBits Opens The Awards
Dan selected LNBits as the best Bitcoin company, calling it the WordPress of Bitcoin Lightning, and Thomas's prepared envelope agreed. The panel treated Ben Arc's work as practical infrastructure rather than speculative noise: point-of-sale devices, workshops, extensions, and the early Nostr connection.
FTX Wins The Bad Categories
Mike immediately named FTX as the worst Bitcoin company, while Dan broadened the indictment to Alameda, Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager, and Three Arrows Capital. Thomas sharpened the point around alleged misuse of customer funds, no real Bitcoin holdings, and the damage done to customers and the wider market.
Defining Moments Beyond The Collapse
Dan offered two personal and ecosystem markers: Mad Bitcoins returning to Europe and Hodlonaut beating Craig Wright. Mike chose Paxful dropping Ethereum as a memorable Bitcoin-only moment. Thomas overruled the field by choosing John Ray's congressional framing of FTX as old-fashioned embezzlement rather than a failure of crypto itself.
Surprises, Trump NFTs, And El Salvador
Dan's biggest surprise was the recovery of coins from the 2016 Bitfinex hack and the strange cultural arrival of the so-called crocodile of Wall Street. Mike pointed to El Salvador still standing by Bitcoin despite brutal timing. Thomas chose Trump NFTs as the year's surreal surprise, emphasizing the mismatch between anti-technology politics and a sudden profile-picture cash grab.
Nostr, Lightning, And Usable Infrastructure
Lightning came up repeatedly as both best new offering and best technical progress, especially the ability to move between Lightning and on-chain Bitcoin more easily. Thomas chose Nostr as best new offering, tying it to Ben Arc, fiatjaf, LNBits, Jack Dorsey funding, and a renewed hope for decentralized social applications.
Proof Of Reserves Returns
Thomas named proof of reserves the best technical innovation, calling it old technology suddenly made urgent by the FTX collapse. Dan noted that Kraken had moved early on public proof-of-reserves work, while Thomas cautioned that many proofs are still snapshots rather than live transparency.
Enough Already For Obituaries And Environmental FUD
Mike was tired of the unresolved Mt. Gox distribution process, while Dan was tired of Craig Wright and central bank anti-Bitcoin obituaries such as the ECB's Bitcoin's Last Stand. Thomas chose environmental attacks on Bitcoin, arguing that the media had revived an old critique without fairly comparing Bitcoin to existing systems or newer uses of energy.
Ben Arc Named Bitcoiner Of The Year
Dan cheekily nominated governments and central banks as accidental Bitcoin educators, while Mike chose Elon Musk despite the obvious controversy. Thomas gave Bitcoiner of the Year to Ben Arc for LNBits, Nostr, fiatjaf funding, workshops, and practical Bitcoin tooling, then gave honorable mentions to Coffeezilla, Autism Capital, CoinDesk, and others for rapid FTX coverage.
They're becoming the WordPress of Bitcoin Lightning.— Dan Eve
FTX is the worst Bitcoin company of 2022.— Thomas Hunt
The fraud had nothing to do with crypto.— Thomas Hunt
taproot, but no one is using it.— Thomas Hunt
The fact is that Bitcoin lives on.— Dan Eve
I always guess lower. I'm a pessimist.— Michael Dupree
Story of the Week
FTX As The Year's Organizing Wreckage
The episode was framed as a year-in-review, but FTX repeatedly swallowed the categories. It was the worst company, the defining moment, the story of the year, and the source of the closing discussion about bail, extradition, cooperation, and whether Sam Bankman-Fried would face ordinary consequences. Thomas placed the collapse outside Bitcoin itself, treating it as a fraud story that damaged the whole industry while proving little about the protocol. Dan and Mike accepted FTX as the central event, then widened the frame to Alameda, Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager, Three Arrows Capital, and the coming regulatory response.
FTX collapses the story of the year for 2022.— Thomas Hunt