Note that Bankman-Fried not only touched on the subject of the hearing on Twitter yesterday. In particular, he also commented on allegations that trading company Alameda Research intentionally collapsed cryptocurrency LUNA to create serious problems for crypto fund Three Arrows Capital. In fact, the latter’s co-founder, Su Zhu, had just the previous day voiced exactly that position.

Three Arrows Capital crypto fund co-founder Su Zhu

Here’s Sam’s quote to that effect.

I have made many mistakes this year. However, this is not one of them. There is no proof of that as it has not happened. I ask you to focus on your problems.

When is Sam Bankman-Fried’s deposition going to take place?

Bankman-Fried announced his agreement to attend the regular session of Congress on Twitter. Here is the corresponding post.

I still don’t have access to a lot of my data, professional and personal. So I won’t be able to share much and won’t be as helpful as I’d like to be. But if members think my report will still be useful, I am willing to give evidence on the 13th.

Note that such rhetoric from Sam Bankman-Fried is not credible. After all, he was not only the head of FTX but also the founder of the trading company Alameda Research. It is therefore very hard to believe that the entrepreneur was not aware of what was going on. In addition, as Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange chief Brian Armstrong has previously pointed out, it was impossible not to notice the hole of several billion dollars in the company's balance sheet. Accordingly, such remarks should be treated with caution.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s tweet about his willingness to attend the hearing

According to Decrypt’s sources, Waters announced the Committee’s session back on 16 November, just five days after FTX’s bankruptcy was formally announced. The congressmen are going to examine the long-term effects of the collapse of the exchange, as well as ways to compensate the victims. There is also a possibility that Binance CEO Changpen Zhao could attend the committee meeting.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters

The active involvement of the top US political body in the process can be explained by the scale of FTX's operations. Still, the crypto-exchange was at the top among other trading platforms by many metrics, including billions of dollars in daily transaction volume. FTX also had a strong marketing campaign to promote its brand: for example, an entire stadium in the US was named after the exchange in a deal worth millions of dollars earlier.

Sam Bunkman-Fried has appeared before Congress in the past

FTX’s bankruptcy is sure to have long-term implications – already US financial regulators are starting to monitor the crypto industry more closely. On the eve, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced new rules requiring companies to provide more detailed information about possible cryptocurrency transactions in their financial statements.

The new set of rules, published earlier this week, is not just about the usual disclosure of the amount of crypto in a company’s reserves. Crypto investments, data on the liquidity of digital assets on the balance sheet, the ability to raise funding, and the ability to confront risks “related to litigation, investigations and regulation” within the crypto market must now be disclosed in the reports.

US Securities and Exchange Commission logo

In an explanation to the new guidelines, the regulator referred to Rule 408 of the Securities Act and Rule 12b-20 of the Exchange Act. They state that companies may be required to make additional disclosures “which may be necessary to ensure that the required statements, in light of the circumstances under which they are made, are not misleading”.

In addition, the SEC has asked for more disclosure about the possible “domino effect” of bankruptcy of other related firms. It is also about any possible “reputational damage” they may face as a result of recent events in the crypto market.

In the future, the SEC’s pressure on the market could become even more pronounced for new cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, the FTX bankruptcy has permanently damaged the industry, and businesses will now have to learn to operate in a new environment.

SEC head Gary Gensler


We think that Sam Bunkman-Fried's early statements about his unwillingness to speak on certain subjects should arouse the suspicions of congressional representatives. After all, Sam was the head of FTX, which means he knew more than anyone else about what was going on in the company and the activity with it. So the only thing left to do here is to hope that the right questions will be voiced at the hearing, which will leave Bankman-Friede's defence with nothing.


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