FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should be in custody by now, as far as Brian Armstrong is concerned. The Coinbase CEO said this week it’s “baffling to me why he’s not in custody already.”
“The DOJ or somebody should be able to make—just based on his public statements, I think there’s a very open and shut case for fraud,” Armstrongas pasakė at the a16z crypto Founder Summit on Tuesday. He added, “I’m not an expert on this, but the people I talk to seem to agree on that.”
Armstrong also questioned why the media has refrained from calling Bankman-Fried a criminal.
“I think we were all pretty shocked to see the scope of the fraud that happened at FTX. And let’s call it a fraud. We have to call it what it actually is. It’s been pretty bizarre that mainstream media hasn’t really come out and said, ‘This guy’s a criminal.’ Maybe they want to wait until he’s actually indicted or something like that, and in custody. But it seems very clear at this point that that’s the case.”
FTX imploded in spectacular fashion last month, surprising many inside and outside the crypto sector. The $32 billion exchange had established itself as a leader in the field, having užsiregistravo sportininkų žvaigždės like Tom Brady and other celebrities to bolster its image. Its collapse shook confidence in the crypto sector and spurred calls for tighter regulation.
Bankmanas-Friedas atsistatydino iš FTX generalinio direktoriaus pareigų lapkričio 11 d., tą pačią dieną, kai bendrovė kartu su prekybos padaliniu „Alameda Research“ pateikė bankroto bylą. A key accusation leveled against Bankman-Fried is that he used customer funds from his crypto exchange rizikingiems statymams finansuoti „Alameda Research“.
Armstrong’s Coinbase, like FTX, is a cryptocurrency exchange. But whereas Bankman-Fried based FTX in the Bahamas—where he reportedly enjoyed an extravagant penthouse lifestyle—Coinbase is a public company in the U.S.
“You can to read our financial statements,” Armstrong said. “They’re audited by a third party, you don’t have to trust us. All the customer funds are segregated. We don’t invest any customer funds without their explicit direction.”
‘People will go to jail’
Armstrong was not the only crypto luminary sharing harsh views of Bankman-Fried this week. Mike Novogratz, CEO of crypto firm Galaxy Digital Holdings, told Bloomberg TV on Thursday, “Sam and his cohorts perpetuated a fraud. They used customer money to make bets that he ‘poorly risk managed’ after he made them.”
“The problem was, he took our money,” Novogratz added. “And so he needs to get prosecuted. People will go to jail, and should go to jail.”
Shares in Coinbase and Canada-listed Galaxy Digital both nukrito daugiau nei 25 proc. last month, exacerbating an already brutal “crypto winter.” Coinbase shares have fallen roughly 80% this year, erasing about $44 billion in value. "BlackRock Generalinis direktorius Larry Fink sakė šią savaitę, “I actually believe most of the companies are not going to be around,” referring to the beleaguered crypto sector.
Last week Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a prominent crypto investor, told TMZ that Bankman-Fried turėtų susirūpinti kalėjimo laikas.
„Nežinau visų smulkmenų, bet jei būčiau jo vietoje, bijočiau ilgam patekti į kalėjimą“, – sakė jis. „Tai tikrai skamba blogai. Aš iš tikrųjų kalbėjausi su vaikinu ir maniau, kad jis protingas, bet aš net neįsivaizdavau, kad jis ims kitų žmonių pinigus ir panaudos asmeniniam naudojimui. Taip, tikrai… atrodo, kas atsitiko.
Armstrong lamented the fact that the crypto sector attracts an inordinate number of bad actors.
“We have to kind of come to terms as an industry with the fact that, I think our industry is attracting a disproportionate share of fraudsters and scammers. And that’s really unfortunate. That doesn’t mean it’s representative of the whole industry. ”
Ši istorija iš pradžių buvo rodoma Fortune.com
Daugiau iš Fortūnos: Amerikos vidurinė klasė yra eros pabaigoje Sam Bankman-Fried kriptovaliutų imperijai „valdoma vaikų gauja Bahamuose“, kurie visi susitikinėjo vienas su kitu. 5 dažniausiai daromos loterijos laimėtojų klaidos Susirgote nauju Omicron variantu? Būkite pasiruošę šiam simptomui
Šaltinis: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-ceo-brian-armstrong-says-231208022.html