FTX meltdown likely to spur crypto regulations, cool digital currency push
The crash last week of FTX, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, is likely to push lawmakers to create central oversight of an otherwise unregulated marketplace.
And while cryptocurrencies like those traded on FTX are different from others backed by fiat money or other assets, the meltdown of the exchange looks likely to cool a burgeoning number of efforts to adopt digital currencies by industries and governments.
Bahamas-based FTX Trading filed for bankruptcy last week after cryptocurrency prices dropped sharply and the company, once valued at $32 billion, found itself billions of dollars in debt. The exchange was founded in 2019 by MIT graduates Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. It quickly grew into the third-largest cryptocurrency trading platform, raising almost $2 billion in venture capital from high-profile investors.