U.S. Senate Banking Committee is examining the collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX.
On Wednesday, Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary testified before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington D.C.
The entrepreneur told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that he lost an estimated $15 million.
He’s not alone as investors, celebrities and customers have seen hundreds of millions of dollars disappear.
He also admitted he did not do his due diligence on the investment.
O’Leary insists that none of his partners lost money on the deal and has sought to uncover where his investment money went. Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, has been at the center of a growing crypto scandal amid allegations that FTX used customer money in its cryptocurrency to fund risky investments made by his trading firm, Alameda Research.
An FTX paid spokesman and multimillionaire investor, O’Leary said in his testimony that he fell victim to “groupthink.” However, he insisted that none of his partners lost money in the deal.
O’Leary is now trying to uncover where his investment money went.
The Senate Banking Committee is examining the collapse of cryptocurrency company FTX founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and the resulting impact on consumers.
The 30-year-old disgraced crypto-king is embroiled in an ever-expanding scandal with federal authorities alleging that FTX used customer money in its cryptocurrency to then fund investments made by his trading firm, Alameda Research.
During the hearing, O’Leary said he believed cryptocurrency should be regulated.
“The number one prize is to be regulated in the U.S. market—the number one financial market on earth. Now when you talk about other money center banks or other financial services industry that want to do business in the U.S.—they must disclose their worldwide operations,” O’Leary said.
“They are scrutinized by the rules we already have in place. A coordinated effort between the Canadian regulator, the U.S. regulator, the ADGM in Abu Dhabi, the regulators and Singapore— basically laying out the ground rules for any entity that wishes to do business in the U.S. or any of those jurisdictions solves this problem.”
