Despite losing money on FTX, Canadian entrepreneur and Shark Tank participant, Kevin O’Leary still thinks Sam Bankman-Fried’s future ventures can be worthwhile investments.
O’Leary recently described his exposure to the exchange while asserting that the failure of the firm has a “silver lining.”
In an interview the so-called Mr.Wonderful acknowledged that FTX was one of his “poor investments.” but that he is still safe because of the variety of his holdings.
The investor nonetheless suffered a “big blow.” He claimed to have many accounts with the exchange that are currently frozen and to be a stakeholder of FTX and FTX US.
“I’ve talked to many other institutional investors that use the platform – they also have zero balances. Everybody’s talking to their accountants and lawyers, and auditors, and compliance departments about this. It’s an extraordinary situation.” – he added.
O’Leary served as FTX’s spokesperson in the past. He said last month that the trade was the farthest thing from his mind as a location to “get in trouble.” He also said that if a “major player” was eliminated in the cryptocurrency market, which he now believes was FTX, the market would likely reach its bottom.
Another bright spot, according to O’Leary, is that the collapse of the exchange is driving authorities to issue more precise industry norms in the future. For instance, important pieces of crypto legislation, like the Digital Commodity Act, are receiving new attention after languishing in Congress.
How Will O’Leary Store Funds?
The investor intends to transfer all of his assets from unregulated exchanges to BitBuy, a regulated Canadian exchange, in the meantime. The OSC, which overseed the company, forbids it from mixing customer funds together the way FTX is alleged to have done.
In order for companies to keep their exposure to cryptocurrencies to a specific proportion of their new worth, O’Leary noted that cold storage custody of assets is not an option.
SBF, the former CEO of FTX, doesn’t, in Mr.Wonderful’s words, “have a wicked bone in his body,” despite his losses.
“You can love him or hate him given what’s happened, but I think we can all admit he was one of the most brilliant traders in the crypto universe.” – he said.
If Bankman-Fried had only “trading control” over assets as opposed to “operational control,” O’Leary said he would support the former billionaire in a hypothetical new cryptocurrency venture. He argued that, in terms of understanding how digital assets function, the crypto tycoon is an “unusual one percent person.”