FTX Collapse Won’t Stop Kevin O’Leary From Keeping Cryptos on Exchanges

Famous Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary said he would keep his crypto assets on regulated crypto exchanges despite the recent failure of FTX.

According to O’Leary, cold storage was not an option for him or firms that have to keep a specified percentage level of exposure to the industry. He declared that cold storage does not provide the kind of liquidity they would need for a daily running of their operations.

O’Leary said that these assets must be available for trading at all times in order to remain “onside of their diversified mandate.”

O’Leary Will Move Assets From US to Canada-based BitBuy

In the same interview, the famed investor said he would move his assets from the United States to Canada-based exchange BitBuy. O’Leary noted that he has several opportunities open to him in Europe, Dubai and even the United States, however, he is going to be placing his assets in the Canadian exchange because the country offers “the most advanced regulatory environment.” He added that BitBuy is the “safest place on earth to put assets.”

“You are going to see billions of dollars leave unregulated and exchanges looking for somewhere in the world where they can be put safely. That, right now, is Canada.”

O’Leary Throws Weight Behind SBF

O’Leary also came under fire after saying he would still back former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The investor, who also signed a contract last year as an FTX spokesperson, said that the disgraced founder was one of the most brilliant traders in the crypto space.

He said this in response to the hypothetical question of whether he would invest in SBF again. According to O’Leary, he would still do it without giving him the operational control of the assets, just the trading control.

Meanwhile, O’Leary mentioned losing his assets and investments in FTX.com and FTX US, but did not disclose how much he lost. He only pointed out that the collapse might be a silver lining for crypto by encouraging more regulation.

FTX Failure Will Bring More Crypto Regulation

O’Leary said incidences like that of FTX collapse was unlikely to happen again because it will encourage more industry regulation.

“There won’t be another situation like this for institutional investors ever again, we’re simply not going to put capital to work until this stuff gets regulated,” said O’Leary.

He added that he would lead the push for better regulations for the crypto sector and believed that regulators should start by passing the Stablecoin Transparency Act. This is one of many crypto-related bills currently before congress and will require more transparency from stablecoins issuers.

“If I’m going to put serious capital to work in a broker-dealer, in an exchange, it’s going to be one that’s regulated, has transparency, and has the same rules that every other exchange deals in stocks and bonds have.”

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