Aaryamann Shrivastava
FXStreet
- FTX had previously paid Kevin O'Leary over $15 million to advocate for the now-bankrupt exchange.
- O'Leary alleged Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, sabotaged FTX with his intention of buying out the latter exchange.
- During the testimony, the "Shark Tank" judge expressed hopes that FTX's collapse would draw attention toward implementing regulation.
FTX's ongoing bankruptcy hearing on Wednesday witnessed the testimony of a rather famous personality beyond the crypto world, Kevin O'Leary. Known for his celebrity investor status, the Shark Tank judge spoke out against Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and discussed what impact FTX's collapse is going to have.
FTX fell due to Binance
FTX's downfall, according to creditor Kevin O'Leary was not the undoing of Sam Bankman-Fried or the exchange's sister company Alameda Research, but Changpeng Zhao. While the trigger for the collapse certainly was Binance's selling of its FTT tokens, the onus remains on FTX for the comingling of customer funds.
However, O'Leary testified,
"I have an opinion. I don't have the records. These two behemoths that owned the unregulated market together and released incredible businesses in terms of growth were at war with each other. And the one put the other one out of business, intentionally. Now, maybe there is nothing wrong with that… but Binance is a massive unregulated global monopoly now, and they put FTX out of business."
He added that even before the buyout fallout, Zhao, who was the owner of a 20% stake in FTX, acted as a roadblock in FTX's attempts at obtaining a license. O'Leary stated,
"Apparently, according to Sam Bankman-Fried, CZ would not comply with regulators' requests in different jurisdictions to provide the data that would clear them [FTX] for a license.”
Regulation is crucial
Beyond the accusations, O'Leary also stated that the United States needs to impose regulation on the crypto industry. Other countries that have already implemented regulations were "attracting both investment capital and highly skilled talent." He added,
"This nascent industry is culling its herd. Going or gone are the inexperienced or incompetent managers, weak business models and rogue unregulated operators. Hopefully, these highly publicized events will put renewed focus on implementing domestic regulation that has been stalled for years."
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