The SEC hints that Gensler is open to a FTX reset with appropriate guidance: Report
The head of the US securities regulator has hinted that crypto exchange FTX will be open to a relaunch – as long as its new management stays within the bounds of the law.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's comments were in response to a report that former New York Stock Exchange president Tom Farley is racing to buy a bankrupt kriptovalyutnogo founded by now-accused fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
“If Tom or anyone else wants to be in this field, I say ‘do it in the law,'” Gensler said in an interview at DC FinTech Week on November 8, according to CNBC. He added:
Build investors' confidence in what you do and make sure you're making proper disclosures – and that you're not doing all these things, trading with your customers or using their crypto assets for your own purposes.
Farley is the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bullish, founded in 2021.
Fintech startup Image Technologies and cryptocurrency venture capitalist Prof Group are two other bidders to buy FTX, according to a Nov. 8 Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter.
3 FTX bidders at the auction:
Bullish – Crypto Exchange by Tom Farley Fur Technologies – Fintech Startup and Validation Group – crypto venture-capital firm
Three bidders will lead the consortium.
— Sunil (@sunil_trades) November 8, 2023
Winner may relaunch the exchange after it plans to emerge from bankruptcy next year, according to a WSJ report.
Crypto still has its fair share of scammers, Gensler says
Meanwhile, in light of Bankman-Fried's conviction, Gensler said the cryptocurrency industry is still riddled with fraudsters and that more work needs to be done to keep them away from investors.
“Imagine how many actors in this space are currently disobeying international sanctions and money laundering laws and using crypto for nefarious or nefarious purposes,” he said, without naming individuals or companies. Gensler added:
“Why do we need them in our markets if they are dishonest fraudsters?”
RELATED: Could Regulation Have Prevented Sam Bankman-Fried's Criminal Conviction?
Despite the SEC's crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer said earlier in December that Gensler and its securities regulator had wiped out billions of dollars from cryptocurrency investors after the failures of FTX, Terra-LUNA, Celsius and Voyager.
Just in: US Congressman Tom Emmer says SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is just as ineffective as he is incompetent.
pic.twitter.com/6EDvRdOfCh
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 8, 2023
Emmer went as far as to suggest that Gensler Bankman-Fried FTX helped to obtain a “control monopoly” on the cryptocurrency industry before the collapse, but the statement was not supported by any evidence.
The SEC is currently battling Binance, Coinbase, and Ripple over alleged securities violations and Grayscale's application to convert its Bitcoin Trust product into a fund that sells on a bitcoin exchange.
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