US Congressman Says FTX Was 'A Failure Of Centralized Finance And A Failure Of Sam Bankman-Fried': Why It's Important

Instead of calling for more regulation, a leading member of the U.S. Congress is looking for answers to the recent issues facing the cryptocurrency market.

What Happened: Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) was on Fox Business, as reported by Decrypt, and during the interview said, “This is not just a failure of FTX. It’s a failure of centralized finance and a failure of Sam Bankman-Fried."

Emmer called out SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in many of his comments, citing the working relationship between Gensler and Bankman-Fried.

“They were working with Sam Bankman-Fried and others to give them special treatment from the SEC that others aren’t getting.”

Emmer asked where Gensler was on investigating firms such as Voyager, Celsius, Terra Luna and FTX. Emmer suggested Gensler was instead going after “good actors” in the cryptocurrency community while working out “backroom deals” with people that aren’t doing good actions in the space.

“We need to get to the bottom of this — we need to understand why Gary Gensler and the SEC were not doing their job. We need to understand how this was allowed to get to the point where people’s savings are getting hurt.”

Emmer said this was not an issue of regulating the entire cryptocurrency industry.

“This is about centralized finance, which needs to be brought under a regulatory umbrella and Gary Gensler has done nothing to make that happen. Decentralized finance is not what it’s about. It’s not about the crypto industry, this is about Sam Bankman-Fried and regulators.”

Related Link: 'Threats To Our Society Posed By Cryptocurrencies': Congressman Takes Aim At Billionaire Crypto Bros

Why It’s Important: Emmer was recently appointed as the Majority Whip for the House of Representatives and is an influential voice for the Republican Party.

Emmer’s comments came as other members of Congress were calling on Fidelity Investments to reverse a decision for 401 (k) plans to have exposure to Bitcoin BTC/USD.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has been outspoken recently calling for increased regulation of the cryptocurrency industry as a result of the FTX bankruptcy.

Emmer has been a supporter of cryptocurrency and was one of the first candidates to accept donations in Bitcoin.

While speaking at VeeCon earlier this year, Emmer voiced his opinion of a hands-off approach to cryptocurrency regulation by the government.

“This is going to happen with or without government,” Emmer said. “I want all of you to stay here and prosper here.”

Read Next: 7 Members Of Congress Who Trade Crypto 

Photo: VideoFlow via Shutterstock