Share this article

Crypto Industry Participants Field Questions from UK Lawmakers After FTX Collapse

In an evidence inquiry session on crypto held by the Treasury Committee, the group addressed negative questions, with some calling for more regulatory clarity.

Updated Nov 14, 2022, 9:40 p.m. Published Nov 14, 2022, 9:37 p.m.
Crypto representatives testifying at Treasury Committee (UK Parliament)
Crypto representatives testifying at Treasury Committee (UK Parliament)

Following the FTX bankruptcy last week, executives from Binance and Ripple, among others, testified in front of the U.K. Parliament Treasury Committee.

Present were committee chair Harriet Baldwin – a conservative member of parliament – along with other members of that committee. Testifying were Daniel Trinder, vice president of government affairs of Europe at Binance, Susan Friedman, head of policy at payments network Ripple, Ian Taylor, executive director of lobby group CryptoUK and Tim Grant, head of Europe at Galaxy Digital.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today. See all newsletters

“This is the exchange collapsing Ian, must feel a bit awkward coming in talking to us after last week,” Baldwin said. She also fired off other questions to the group, such as if the events surrounding FTX undermined confidence in what they do for a living.

“I think it would be very wrong to tar the entire industry by this one bad apple, which happened to be a very big apple,” Grant said.

Read more: FTX Collapse Exposed 'Weaknesses' in Crypto, Janet Yellen Says: Report

The U.K. still has hopes to be a crypto innovation hub and wants to work with regulators to ensure this objective doesn't undermine stability, its Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told Sky news on Friday.

Turning back to today’s hearing, CryptoUK’s Taylor called for the government to put in place a broad framework like the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation, and Ripple’s Friedman echoed this request. Plus, Taylor and Binance’s Trinder also said crypto firms needed auditing.

The committee also asked Trinder if Binance knew its actions – 1) Unloading on the markets much of its holdings of FTX exchange token FTT, and 2) Agreeing to and then backing out of a deal to bailout/acquire FTX – might lead to the collapse of that exchange.

Trinder denied such intention and offered to quickly send the committee related correspondence documents to justify that Binance’s actions were not fuelled by the intention to destroy its competitor.

Read more: EU Finalizes Legal Text for Landmark Crypto Regulations Under MiCA


Más para ti

Más para ti

Crypto group counters Wall Street bankers with its own stablecoin principles for bill

The White House, the executive office of the U.S. President (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)

After the bankers shared a document at the White House demanding a total ban on stablecoin yield, the crypto side answers that it needs some stablecoin rewards.

Lo que debes saber:

  • The U.S. Senate's crypto market structure bill has been waylaid by a dispute over something that's not related to market structure: yield on stablecoins.
  • The Digital Chamber is offering a response to a position paper circulated earlier this week by bankers who oppose stablecoin yield.
  • The crypto group's own principles documents argues that certain rewards are needed on stablecoin acvitity, but that the industry doesn't need to pursue products that directly threaten bank deposits business.