House Committee on Financial Services Chair Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and ranking member Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) announced plans for a bipartisan hearing into the collapse of FTX and the broader consequences for the digital asset ecosystem.
During the hearing, scheduled for next month, the committee expects to hear from the companies and individuals involved, including FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Alameda Research – Bankman-Fried’s trading firm which was used to artificially bolster the value and trade volume of FTX – Binance, FTX, and other related entities.
“The fall of FTX has posed tremendous harm to over one million users, many of whom were everyday people who invested their hard-earned savings into the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, only to watch it all disappear within a matter of seconds,” said Waters. “Unfortunately, this event is just one out of many examples of cryptocurrency platforms that have collapsed just this past year. That’s why it is with great urgency that I, along with my colleague Ranking Member McHenry, announce the Committee’s intention to hold a hearing to investigate the collapse of FTX.”
“Chairwoman Waters and I are announcing a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the FTX debacle,” said McHenry. “Oversight is one of Congress’ most critical functions and we must get to the bottom of this for FTX’s customers and the American people. It’s essential that we hold bad actors accountable so responsible players can harness technology to build a more inclusive financial system. I appreciate Chairwoman Waters’ working with Republicans to deliver accountability through a bipartisan process.”
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and the Department of Justice are working together to complete a thorough investigation into FTX, Alameda Research, and those in charge of the two companies, to understand how the world’s second-largest crypto exchange lost billions of dollars in customers’ money in less than two weeks.