Centralization Villain Gets More Hearings While Decentralization Watches

Hearings on FTX

With FTX continuing to burn like a sun that never sets, Congress is undertaking its review of the cryptocurrency exchange’s implosion with two hearings this week – one quotable,  the other that checks a box.

Hearing #1 – likely very quotable

On Tuesday, December 13 at 10:00a, Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D, CA), Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R, NC) and the House Financial Services Committee convene a hearing titled  “Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I.” (Live stream)

The scheduled witness list for the House Financial Services hearing is exactly who you’d want, at a minimum, for a one-day hearing: the current CEO and the former one:

      • John J. Ray III, current Chief Executive Officer, FTX Group
      • Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), Founder and Former CEO, FTX Group

Read the HFS Committee’s hearing memorandum here.

Mr. Ray is well-known for his work in corporate disasters such as Enron and Nortel where Mr. Ray led teams of lawyers to find the best way out possible for shareholders, creditors and customers alike. Read this profile from Ray’s hometown paper for more.

The ignominious FTX founder, SBF, created still more drama around “will he” or “won’t he” appear for the Committee in recent Twitter banter (1, 2, 3, 4) with Chairwoman Waters. As of this writing, he says he’ll appear -likely by video. Rumors had swirled whether Chairwoman Waters would use her subpoena powers to compel SBF to testify. Complicating matters was SBF’s Bahamian location.

It was only one year ago – almost to the day – that  SBF was throwing bouquets to House Financial Services after a Committee appearance and tweeting, “A huge thanks to @MaxineWaters, @PatrickMcHenry, and the whole House Financial Services Committee for having us today to talk about the future of digital assets. The meeting was productive and I’m really grateful for the engagement and thoughts from policymakers.”

With Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member Rep. Patrick McHenry’s work on stablecoin legislation waiting in the wings, it would seem tough questions will be prepared for Mr. Bankman-Fried.

Top 10 questioners to watch on HFS:
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