Benzinga | Jan 24, 2022 06:08PM EST

WATCH: Benzinga's Top Moments Of 2021

2021 was an eventful year for Benzinga and retail investors alike. Now that we're a couple of weeks into 2022, it's time to take a look back and highlight Benzinga's top moments of 2021. Watch the full Benzinga highlight reel here.

Global Fintech Awards in New York City

Every year, Benzinga hosts the Global Fintech Awards, one of the largest events in the Fintech space. Last year, we celebrated great brokerages such as Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW), Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD), Tradestation and more.

We also honored crypto platforms like Voyager Digital Ltd (OTC:VYGVF), Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) and BlockFi. For more information about Benzinga's fintech awards, please visit here.

Robinhood Crypto Trading Challenge

One of the most interactive segments on Benzinga's network last year was the Robinhood Crypto Trading Challenge. In the challenge, participants had a different brokerage to use to trade crypto.

In the challenge, it became evident that the brokerages with fees made it a lot harder to become profitable. Robinhood was the only platform in the challenge that offered crypto trading sans fees, and the person using Robinhood won the challenge.

GameStop Short Squeeze, Andrew Left Interview

Last January, the GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) short squeeze started and Benzinga was right at the center of it. Rather than reporting after the fact, we went out and got Citron's Andrew Left on our show to ask him directly about his plans to short GameStop.

At the time, GameStop's stock was around $45, already up nearly 1,000% from its previous prices. Left boldly claimed the stock was going to $20... well, we all know how that turned out.

Beringer Capital Acquires Majority Stake in Benzinga

Benzinga wrapped up 2021 in a big way: a transformative deal with private equity firm Beringer Capital. Beringer acquired a majority stake in Benzinga, but don't expect too much to change.

While many acquisitions mark the beginning of the end for some startups, Benzinga's allows us to further our mission of democratizing financial data and making information easy to consume.