FTX CEO visited the White House during the crypto regulation debate

What’s new? FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his government relations and policy team met with the White House policy advisor Charlotte Butash and counselor Steve Ricchetti in May 2022. The meeting took place during discussions on the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in the United States. This is reported by CoinDesk, citing visitor logs to the residence of the President of the United States.

News on the CoinDesk website

What other information has been released? Journalists note that during this period, lawmakers debated which agency should become the crypto market’s primary federal market regulator: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Eloria Katz, FTX’s director of government relations and policy, and Mark Wetjen (an ex-CFTC commissioner), FTX’s head of policy, visited the White House with Bankman-Fried. Although the subject of the meeting was not in the logs, CoinDesk suggests that it was also related to the discussion of crypto regulation.

The CFTC currently has an FTX proposal for the direct settlement of cryptocurrency transactions under review. During a hearing before the House Committee on Agriculture, whose jurisdiction includes the CFTC, CME Group CEO Terry Duffy said that FTX’s proposal for direct settlement is fraught with risks that could spill over into other markets. For his part, Bankman-Fried has repeatedly stated that FTX has no plans to expand beyond digital assets.

In early August, Senators Debbie Stabenow and John Boozman introduced a bill that would give the CFTC the authority to oversee the crypto market. Herewith, back in July, the Commission created the Office of Technology Innovation, where its staff can undertake an internship to gain experience in the field of cryptocurrencies.

In June, Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand published another bill aimed at totally incorporating cryptocurrencies into the US financial system. The lawmakers also planned to make the CFTC the regulator of the crypto market. Herewith, earlier, SEC chief Gary Gensler said that most crypto assets fit the definition of securities and, therefore, should be controlled by his agency.