- Senator Pat Toomey said FTX was opaque, centralized, and dishonest while cryptocurrencies are open-source, decentralized, and transparent.
- He added that just because of a bad player in the industry, it makes no sense to ban cryptocurrencies entirely as doing so would drive innovation to other markets, he warned.
The collapse of the crypto exchange FTX last month in November 2022 has been one of the watershed moments in the history of crypto markets, drawing the attention of regulators from around the world. Many in the regulatory circles believe that the FTX collapse will push the U.S. SEC to bring a complete ban on digital assets.
However, the lawmakers remain completely divided over this matter. Last week, retiring U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) spoke at the Senate Banking Committee adding that the collapse of the FTX exchange is not an indictment against cryptocurrency. The Senator added:
There was unauthorized lending of customer assets to an affiliated entity, and there were fraudulent promises to investors and customers about FTX’s operations. These are outrageous and completely unacceptable.
I want to underscore a bigger issue here: The wrongful behavior that occurred here is not specific to the underlying asset. What appears to have happened here is a complete breakdown in the handling of those assets.
The Senator further added that lawmakers should separate potentially…
