John Jay Ray III took control of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX in the small hours of November 11. Ray was asked in a US House Hearing on Financial Services to compare FTX to Enron, another financial debacle he cleaned up after. “This is just plain old embezzlement,” said Ray. “Not sophisticated at all.” FTX simply took customer money and used it for their own purposes.
FTX and its sister firm, cryptocurrency hedge fund Alameda Research, both operated out of the Bahamas, with zero oversight. At least $8bn in customer funds is now missing, causing cryptocurrency enthusiasts to rethink the future of finance and politicians to call for tighter reins on the cryptocurrency space.
