WASHINGTON, December 14, 2022 – As legislators’ animosity toward digital assets builds following the FTX meltdown, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., on Wednesday defended the industry during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
FTX, until recently a highly regarded crypto exchange, suffered an acute liquidity crisis and subsequently filed for bankruptcy in November. The crunch was triggered by reports that the FTX-linked investment firm, Alameda Research, relied heavily on FTX’s in-house token, FTT.
Since the collapse, intense scrutiny has revealed that FTX improperly financed Alameda’s ventures with billions of customers’ investment dollars. Bahaman authorities arrested FTX founder and former-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday, and he may face extradition to the United States.
Toomey, the committee’s ranking member, rejected proposals to “pause” cryptocurrency trading until a comprehensive regulatory scheme becomes law or eschew regulating of digital assets entirely to prevent their further legitimization. Toomey advocated instituting consumer protections…
