Falling FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried Could Be Good for Crypto
Let's make sure the companies replacing FTX in the public eye understand what cryptocurrency is and want to get back to its core values .
Opinion
"Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete lack of reliable financial information," FTX's new CEO John Ray III said in a legal filing. Thursday. "From the compromised integrity of systems and faulty regulatory oversight overseas, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented. "
Ray, who oversaw the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron, became CEO shortly after founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned (and reportedly tried to flee to Argentina, although he denies it). He is absolutely correct that FTX was taken down by a complete failure of corporate controls, but in reality the situation is far from unprecedented.
And unless the entire industry gets a handle on it, it will continue to happen.
That's why the exchange's collapse could actually prove to be good for crypto in the long run: even if at the moment it looks like it's only helping to tarnish its reputation, the saga FTX unfolding before our sorry eyes is a chance to turn things around before it's too late, that is, before corporate greed, negligence and malpractice puts the entire industry on your knees.
Related: Will SBF suffer the consequences of mismanaging FTX? Don't count on it
Essentially, cases like FTX's are a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and the longer they go unchecked, the greater the damage they can cause. This is evident simply by looking at the scale of the deception at play and relating it to the company's valuation, which in February alone stood at $32 billion, more than the Nasdaq, Credit Switzerland and Robinhood. Of this amount, Bankman-Fried's personal fortune amounted to $16 billion. In his own words, "sometimes life catches up with you." Well, sometimes, so...
Let's make sure the companies replacing FTX in the public eye understand what cryptocurrency is and want to get back to its core values .
Opinion
"Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete lack of reliable financial information," FTX's new CEO John Ray III said in a legal filing. Thursday. "From the compromised integrity of systems and faulty regulatory oversight overseas, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented. "
Ray, who oversaw the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron, became CEO shortly after founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned (and reportedly tried to flee to Argentina, although he denies it). He is absolutely correct that FTX was taken down by a complete failure of corporate controls, but in reality the situation is far from unprecedented.
And unless the entire industry gets a handle on it, it will continue to happen.
That's why the exchange's collapse could actually prove to be good for crypto in the long run: even if at the moment it looks like it's only helping to tarnish its reputation, the saga FTX unfolding before our sorry eyes is a chance to turn things around before it's too late, that is, before corporate greed, negligence and malpractice puts the entire industry on your knees.
Related: Will SBF suffer the consequences of mismanaging FTX? Don't count on it
Essentially, cases like FTX's are a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and the longer they go unchecked, the greater the damage they can cause. This is evident simply by looking at the scale of the deception at play and relating it to the company's valuation, which in February alone stood at $32 billion, more than the Nasdaq, Credit Switzerland and Robinhood. Of this amount, Bankman-Fried's personal fortune amounted to $16 billion. In his own words, "sometimes life catches up with you." Well, sometimes, so...
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