FTX owner Sam Bankman-Fried along with his government relations and policy team has paid a visit to the White House. Meanwhile the US lawmakers are debating on the primary federal market regulator of the crypto industry between Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Bankman-Fried along with FTX’s director of government relations and policy, Eloria Katz and an ex-CFTC commissioner who is now FTX’s head of policy, Mark Wetjen met with counselor Steve Ricchetti and the policy advisor, Charlotte Butash. The details of the meeting’s discussion is not disclosed yet.
FTX has proposed to CFTC for the direct settlement of the crypto-related transactions directly. Traditional Finance has strongly opposed the application by the exchange.
Terry Duffy, the chief executive officer of CME Group, during a hearing before the U.S House Committee on Agriculture that supervises the CFTC said FTX’s appeal for direct settlement involves Danger. At the time, Duffy said the risk of it penetrating to other markets is highly harmful.
Sam Bankman-Fried at many instances said the intention of FTX is not at all to expand beyond digital assets. In the same hearing, Bankman-Fried also testified before Congress. The hearing was conducted on May 12, the same day as of the meeting with Ricchetti.
The day of the decision on FTX’s proposal is not yet scheduled. CFTC will have more market oversight while Bills are working their way through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Though the progress is rather slow.
Gabriel Bankman-Fried also joined FTX owner and the FTX regulatory team. Gabriel Bankman-Fried operates Guarding Against Pandemics, a political action committee. The committee aims to improve the government’s response to pandemics during one of the meetings with Butash.
Meanwhile amid the speculation that FTC plans to acquire Huobi, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried clarified that the crypto exchange doesn’t have any such intentions, through a tweet.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/08/31/ftx-owner-sam-bankman-fried-visited-white-house-amid-regulatory-fight/