Former White House communications director and venture investor Anthony Scaramucci recently came out and said, “Sam Bankman-Fried really hurt the industry.”
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX once used to be the second biggest cryptocurrency exchange by market capitalization.
The exchange wasn’t only marketed by multiple A-list celebrities – including basketball player Shaq O’Neal, but the larger community also trusted it as being one of the best exchanges to offer a derivatives trading facility.But the appreciation does not end there.
Many considered Sam Bankman-Fried himself as one of the good samaritans of the crypto space. His approach, named “effective altruism,” was lauded by many in the industry.However, that appreciation turned into an insult after it came to light that most of FTX’s capital was being fuelled by the native token – FTT. And when it became apparent that the company was misusing users’ assets, the crypto winter that started in the middle of last year was prolonged once again .
One of the main reasons that Sam Bankman Fried got as much traction as he did was because of his approach to rallying people for crypto. In the mid-term elections last year, it was reported that he donated over $40 million to politicians.Sam’s influence in America’s political sector was not limited to donations. Gary Gensler, the SEC Chief who has now become one of the biggest skeptics of crypto – roadblocking any chance of the crypto economy to thrive – was once a friend of the now-jailed FTX CEO.
So, when the FTX situation happened in 2022, these meetings proved to be embarrassing.Citing these incidents, Anthony Scaramucci says, “He embarrassed the politicians; he gave a lot of money to them”.
These statements came from the recent Collision 2023 conference event in Toronto.Scaramucci continued that these misdeeds have created a situation that “now the pendulum has swung too far to over-regulation in this ridiculous procesutorial oversight.
”Over-Regulating Has Been SEC’s Approach So FarThe crypto community learned from the unsealed Hinman documents that SEC’s stance regarding crypto was far different than it is now. While there was some regulatory skepticism, the organization was open to new ideas.
However, the arrival of crypto winter in the middle of 2022, led by the fall of LUNA, and the further exacerbation of the situation by the FTX’s downfall led many regulatory authorities up in arms against the current crypto economy.SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, seems to be leading the charge in this situation. Recently, it marked over 60 cryptocurrencies, including Solana, Polygon, and Matic, as securities. That move resulted in many exchanges and trading firms, such as Revolt, dropping support for these assets.
It has also taken a tough stance against Binance and Coinbase, which could have larger long-term implications.This overcorrection to cover up the mistakes of the past has irked many crypto enthusiasts and some regulatory institutions. All the comments on the tweets by SEC – whether or not they are related to crypto – are facing backlash from the crypto community.
In its most recent tweet, SEC said that it is charging Oregon residents Robert D Christensen and Anthony M. Matic for conducting a multi-year Ponzi-like scene and misleading investors.