两大政党的参议员周三尖锐批评破产的加密货币交易所FTX和它的前任首席执行官山姆·班克曼·弗里德，同时倡导对数字货币部门进行监管。
然而，美国商会银行委员会的议员们在FTX事件是代表了更广泛的行业危险，还是仅仅是任何企业都可能发生的普通欺诈行为这一问题上存在重大分歧。反过来，他们指出了一系列关于秘密监管的类型和程度的意见。
民主党人对FTX事件引发的密码行业的系统性缺陷表示担忧，而一些共和党人则将该公司的倒闭描述为一次性的欺诈事件，与有前途的金融技术无关。
山姆·班克曼·弗里德是“恶棍”
“山姆·班克曼-弗里德和他的密码交易成功的神话应该给我们留下深刻印象，”俄亥俄州的谢罗德·布朗说。“在这个故事中，班克曼-弗里德是发光的物体。现在他是个恶棍。”
“但这个故事比一个人和一家公司更重要，”他补充道。
共和党参议员帕特·图米。还抨击了FTX的管理不善，但表示该公司的倒闭并没有对加密货币的潜在经济价值产生负面影响。
Toomey说:“我们有责任让每一位顾客了解FTX内爆的真相。”。“虽然所有的事实尚未大白于天下，但我们已经清楚地目睹了几乎可以肯定是非法的不法行为。”
“这里发生的不法行为并不特定于基础资产，”他补充道。“FTX和加密货币不是一回事。”
好的老式骗局
先前估值为320亿美元的FTX宣布破产11月，在客户抛售总额达数十亿美元的几周内
30岁的班克曼·弗里德逮捕据巴哈马皇家警察部队称，纽约联邦检察官提交了包括欺诈和阴谋指控在内的八项指控。
萨姆·班克曼-弗里德的律师马克·s·科恩在周二早上首次对其当事人的被捕发表了评论。
科恩在一份声明中说:“班克曼-弗里德先生正在与他的法律团队一起审查指控，并考虑他的所有法律选择。”
周二，在一名法官认定班克曼-弗里德的潜逃风险太大后，他的保释申请被驳回。在2023年2月8日之前，他将被还押至巴哈马惩教署。
联邦机构商品期货交易委员会的格雷琴·洛说，客户损失超过80亿美元。
怀俄明州共和党参议员辛西娅·卢米斯(Cynthia Lummis)将FTX的崩溃描述为“老式骗局”，但为加密货币的创新潜力辩护。
“FTX是人、安全措施和监管的失败——这不是技术的失败，”她说，并补充说加密货币行业需要监管。
加密货币的潜在监管
参议员提出的两党立法。伊丽莎白·沃伦，D-Mass。和参议员罗杰·马歇尔。周三，旨在通过对数字货币应用一套现有的反洗钱规则来解决加密货币用于非法活动的问题，包括了解你的客户要求-要求银行和其他金融机构了解客户的概况和风险的规则。
沃伦说:“加密已经成为恐怖分子、勒索团伙、毒贩和想要洗钱的流氓国家的首选工具。”
美国大学华盛顿法学院教授、听证会证人希拉里·j·艾伦(Hilary J. Allen)提议在美国彻底禁止加密货币。
Sen. Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Pat Toomey, right, the ranking member, lead a hearing on cryptocurrency and the collapse of the FTX crypto exhange and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, at the Capitol in Washin...Show moreundefined
J.斯科特·阿普尔怀特/美联社
“禁止加密将是保护投资者和金融系统的最直接的方式，”她说。“这将结束加密资产不受控制的创建，并确保加密资产永远不需要救助。”
其他证人支持监管，但指出加密货币技术为国家经济提供了重要价值，并警告不要采取可能阻碍该行业产生价值的激进行动。
凯文·奥利里(Kevin O'Leary)是一名企业家，也是电视节目《鲨鱼坦克》(Shark Tank)的主持人，他之前支持FTX成为付费推广人，他说，该公司的垮台最终将突显加密货币带来的透明度，因为客户寻求追回损失的资金。
他表示:“我认为，未来一两年，当我们在FTX剥洋葱的时候，区块链成功追踪这些资产的辉煌成果将成为所有人的焦点。”。
明尼苏达州参议员Tina Smith试图让人们注意到FTX的客户，他们在平台崩溃后将失去他们的投资。
“我们不应该忽视数百万美元一夜之间消失的事实，”她说。"这些钱属于那些输不起钱的人。"
Senators slam FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried and back crypto regulation
Senators across both major parties on Wednesday sharply criticized bankrupt cryptocurrency exchangeFTXand its former CEOSam Bankman-Fried, while advocating for regulation of the digital currency sector.
Lawmakers on the chamber's banking committee differed significantly, however, on whether FTX exemplified wider industry dangers or merely a run-of-the-mill fraud that could occur at any business. In turn, they indicated a range of opinions on the type and extent of crypto regulation.
Democrats expressed concern about systemic flaws in the crypto industry raised by the FTX debacle, while some Republicans characterized the corporate collapse as a one-off instance of fraud divorced from the promising financial technology that enabled it.
Sam Bankman-Fried is 'the villain'
"The myth of Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto trading success was supposed to impress us," Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said. "In this story, Bankman-Fried was the shiny object. Now he's the villain."
"But this story is bigger than one person and one firm," he added.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., also skewered the mismanagement of FTX but said its corporate collapse does not reflect negatively on the potential economic value of cryptocurrency.
"We owe it to each customer to get to the bottom of the FTX implosion," Toomey said. "While all the facts have not yet come to light, we've clearly witnessed wrongdoing that was almost certainly illegal."
"The wrongful behavior that occurred here is not specific to the underlying asset," he added. "FTX and cryptocurrencies are not the same thing."
'Good old-fashioned fraud'
FTX, previously valued at $32 billion, declaredbankruptcyin November, within weeks of a customer sell-off totaling billions of dollars
Bankman-Fried, 30, wasarrestedMonday in the Bahamas after federal prosecutors in New York filed an eight-count indictment including allegations of fraud and conspiracy, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer, Mark S. Cohen, offered his first comments on the arrest of his client Tuesday morning.
"Mr. Bankman-Fried is reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options," Cohen said in a statement.
Bankman-Fried's application for bail was denied on Tuesday after a judge determined he was too much of a flight risk. He will be remanded until Feb. 8, 2023, to the Bahamas Department of Corrections.
There are more than $8 billion in customer losses, said Gretchen Lowe of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., characterized the collapse of FTX as "good old-fashioned fraud," but defended the innovative potential of cryptocurrency.
"FTX is a failure of people, safeguards and regulation -- it's not a failure of technology," she said, adding that the cryptocurrency industry requires regulation.
Potential regulation of cryptocurrency
Bipartisan legislation introduced by Sen.Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Ky., on Wednesday aims to address the use of cryptocurrency for illicit activities by applying a current set of anti-money laundering rules to digital currency, including Know Your Customer requirements -- rules that require banks and other financial institutions to understand the profile of and risks posed by a customer.
"Crypto has become the preferred tool for terrorists, for ransomware gangs, for drug dealers and for rogue states that want to launder money," Warren said.
Hilary J. Allen, a professor at American University Washington College of Law and a witness at the hearing, proposed an outright ban on cryptocurrency in the U.S.
"A ban on crypto would be the most straightforward way of protecting both investors and the financial system," she said. "It would end the uncontrolled creation of crypto assets and also ensure that crypto assets never require a bailout."
Other witnesses supported regulation but indicated that cryptocurrency technology offers significant value for the nation's economy, cautioning against aggressive action that could hinder the value generated by the sector.
Kevin O'Leary, an entrepreneur and host of the television show "Shark Tank," who previously endorsed FTX as a paid promoter, said the downfall of the company would ultimately highlight the transparency delivered by cryptocurrency, as customers seek to recover lost funds.
"I think what's going to happen as we peel the onion on FTX over the next year or two is the shining outcome of the success of the blockchain to track these assets will become the focus of everybody," he said.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., sought to to bring attention to the FTX customers who stand to lose their investments on the platform after its collapse.
"We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that millions of dollars disappeared overnight," she said. "This is money that belonged to people who couldn't afford to lose their money."
