Gensler says FTX collapse is 'part of a pattern' in crypto markets

Quick Take

  • Gensler urges policymakers to see FTX failure as part of a broader pattern. 
  • “The investing public is hoping for a better future, and they’re not having it here,” Gensler said.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Tuesday's sudden FTX collapse is part of a wider trend in digital assets. 

"What we’ve seen in the last two days, if I can sort of step back from it a bit, it’s really part of a pattern of what we have seen over the past six or eight months,” Gensler said during a conference hosted by the Healthy Markets Association, a policy nonprofit. “Investors get hurt when we don’t rely upon the time-tested public policy guardrails.”

"I would not take the last two days as separate from what's happened in the last eight months," the SEC chair continued, pointing in particular to leverage, as well as "lack of disclosure, opacity, we’ve seen the use of other people’s money and trading ahead.”

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“The investing public is hoping for a better future, and they’re not having it here,” Gensler added.

The recent market turmoil is linked to the seeming failure of FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and one that has emphasized putting its own vision forward for policymaking in Washington, D.C. 


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About Author

Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].

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