According to investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, unregulated crypto exchanges will continue to collapse like dominoes after FTX, with many more “meltdowns” to follow.
In an interview with Kitco anchor David Lin on January 17, O’Leary, a former spokesman and supporter of the now-defunct FTX exchange, said that the failure was only one in a long line of “unregulated exchanges” that were expected to fail:
The primary trading and investment banking departments of Goldman Sachs saw a substantial decline in earnings.
“If you’re asking me if another meltdown to zero is imminent, I say, “Yes. Absolutely. 100% of the time, it will occur and continue to occur repeatedly.
Unregulated exchanges do not follow comparable operating procedures to conventional stock exchanges and brokerages, aren’t registered with and governed by a securities commission, and aren’t subject to routine audits.
“Well, all these exchanges and unregulated exchanges are currently experiencing significant outflows. The joke is on the wise guys. He added that they aren’t waiting for an answer.
Why should institutional capital continue to invest in you if you won’t allow yourself to be audited, don’t have an audit, aren’t transparent, or won’t reveal ownership? Without a doubt, it won’t.
Community members vociferously demanded more openness from cryptocurrency exchanges after FTX’s crash in November. Five centralised exchanges finished their proof-of-reserve audits in a matter of weeks, and several more declared plans to follow suit.
Nevertheless, other experts, including a senior official from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cautioned that evidence of reserves doesn’t accurately depict a company’s financial situation and urged investors to be “extremely sceptical” of the assertions being made.
Some of the auditors, including Mazars, have allegedly changed their minds about supporting cryptocurrency businesses. The organisation apparently ceased performing proof-of-reserve assessments for cryptocurrency companies in December and deleted its audit for Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange.
Other auditing companies have apparently quit working with cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKX and Gate.io, including FTX’s auditor Armanino. In O’Leary’s words:
“Frankly, you know, the uncontrolled cowboy atmosphere makes it extremely difficult to find an auditor who wants to touch this material right now. There will be a lot more zeros once it all ends.
This month, O’Leary’s Shark Tank co-host Mark Cuban warned The Street that the next cryptocurrency “implosion” would be brought on by crypto wash trading on centralised exchanges.
According to a December analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research, wash trading accounts for up to 70% of the volume on unregulated exchanges (NBER).
O’Leary claims that despite the commotion, he is increasing his cryptocurrency investments, especially in Bitcoin (BTC).
“Recently, I have returned to the crypto markets. I increase our stakes in Bitcoin if its price falls below $17,000. He further said that crypto is starting to become quite intriguing because regulation is finally beginning to take effect, and in the long run, I believe that’s a positive thing.”