FTX founder says he will testify before US House committee, without committing to date

Mr Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, did not indicate if he would be physically present for the meeting. PHOTO: AFP

NEW YORK – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried says he will testify before the House Financial Services Committee after he is finished “learning and reviewing” the events that led to the implosion of crypto exchange FTX.

Representative Maxine Waters, the committee’s chair, on Friday invited Mr Bankman-Fried to join the panel’s Dec 13 hearing on FTX’s collapse. The FTX founder did not commit to appearing at the meeting in December.

“Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain,” he said in a tweet on Sunday. “I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th.”

Mr Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of FTX, did not indicate if he would be physically present for the meeting.

The collapse of his FTX crypto trading empire has put more pressure on Congress to establish guardrails for the industry, and United States financial watchdogs are pressing for more oversight.  

On Thursday, Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Rostin Behnam, testified at the first congressional oversight hearing on FTX’s demise, where he pushed to make his agency the main Bitcoin regulator and give it oversight of crypto exchanges. The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains most crypto tokens are securities under its purview.

While the fiasco at FTX – and the US$8 billion (S$10.8 billion) hole in its balance sheet – has rippled across the crypto world, Senate Banking Committee chairman Sherrod Brown said on Sunday the regulatory push does not stem from “one crypto company”.

“This is about everything about national security. From Russian oligarchs to North Korean cyber criminals to gun runners to drug traffickers that love the thought of using unregulated, unrestricted cyber,” he said.

Senator Pat Toomey, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Bloomberg News on Friday that he sees an opening for Congress to pass a narrow digital asset regulation Bill before the end of the year.

Mr Toomey said he is working with Democrats to get some measures, including a regulatory framework for stablecoins, attached to a possible spending deal after months of inaction in Congress, where Republicans will have a House majority starting in January.

Mr Brown urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in November to work with lawmakers to craft crypto legislation to ensure its risks “do not spill over into traditional financial markets and institutions”.

Top US financial officials, including Dr Yellen and US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, have said the government has limited ability to regulate crypto assets that are not covered by securities laws. BLOOMBERG

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