Binance’s Lack of Transparency on FTX Bid Could Influence UK Lawmakers' Crypto Recommendations: Report

U.K. lawmakers were left disappointed after Binance sent them a series of news articles about the collapse of rival crypto exchange FTX last week after they had asked for records detailing the company's role in the process, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

“It doesn’t really give us the real background detail,” Alison Thewliss, a member of Parliament’s Treasury Committee, told Bloomberg. “I’m sure the committee will be asking more questions to get to the details of what happened here, because there are wider implications for this collapse and for the crypto sector as a whole.”

Binance’s lack of transparency could affect the committee's recommendations on regulating the industry, Thewliss said.

At Monday's inquiry, Binance was asked whether it knew its actions – which included saying it would unload much of its FTT holdings on the market and agreeing to acquire FTX before backing out of the deal – would lead to its rival's collapse.

Binance responded on Wednesday by denying it had a deliberate plan to sink FTX. In the document it sent to lawmakers, Binance included a timeline of events and suggested that the causes of the collapse were “the financial irregularities and possible fraud initially reported in the CoinDesk article" on Nov. 2.

The government is figuring out how to regulate the industry and is set to announce a consultation to explore what's needed. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he wants the country to be a crypto hub and currently the Financial Services and Markets bill that will give regulators more powers over the sector is being debated.

The committee was not available to comment when contacted by CoinDesk.