Venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary to FTX cryptocurrency He said he wanted to stage a bailout hours before his stock market filed for bankruptcy, but was thwarted by comments from US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler.
“I Talked With SBF”
The “Shark Tank” program star said on Monday he spoke with Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, on Thursday, a day before the Bahamas-based exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
O’Leary stated days ago that he was trying to make sense of the liquidity problem on FTX’s balance sheet. At the time, O’Leary said the company was experiencing an influx of “demand” from independent asset and pension funds seeking to help clear its cash crunch.
Bankman-Fried told O’Leary that FTX was looking for $8 billion.
“After Gary Gensler’s Announcement, None of the Wealth Funds Have Any Interest in FTX Investments”
O’Leary said:
“This is the kind of money that an institution or government wealth fund might consider if they think it’s an interesting opportunity. In financial services, liquidity events like this can be interesting investment opportunities if you think it’s a legitimate investment and there are no regulatory issues.”
At the time, however, Gary Gensler said the crypto industry was “significantly mismatched” and needed more regulation.
O’Leary commented on Gensler’s statement:
“The moment this happened, no wealth fund had any interest. There was no way to get $8 billion into FTX’s balance sheet with the regulators hanging over us.”
O’Leary estimates that the exchange needs $3.5 billion to $4 billion to pay off FTX’s debts.
*Not investment advice.
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