Crypto industry was ‘judge, jury and executioner’ for FTX: Pompliano

Prolific podcaster and cryptocurrency investor Anthony Pompliano has not lost faith in people or the crypto industry despite the disappointing conduct of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried, once widely regarded as crypto’s “white knight” is now a pariah in the crypto industry due to — by his own admission — the “careless” mishandling of FTX customer funds and his ongoing strange behavior on Twitter.

Appearing on Nov. 17 at the Texas Blockchain Summit, Pompliano was asked about how to ensure high-quality representation “in the halls of power,” responding that market forces eliminate bad people as quickly as bad businesses:

“It might be a little counterintuitive, but the free market is a hell of a fucking referee. If you watch what just happened, this industry is who held the industry accountable. […] CZ is the one who used market forces to take that company [FTX] down,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the judge, jury, and executioner was the free market and the industry itself.”

Pompliano continued, “The good people, they survive, the bad people, they end up getting washed out.”

Always enjoy visiting the great state of Texas, where the citizens understand the importance of private property, personal defense, and economic liberty pic.twitter.com/5POeuSDuex

— Pomp (@APompliano) November 17, 2022

Speaking on CNBC on Nov. 15, Pompliano said, “I think there are a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t have any information. I don’t know what’s going on.’”

Pompliano added he had businesses with money on FTX’s platforms and an advertising relationship with the crypto exchange.

Pompliano, an ardent Bitcoin supporter, founded North Carolina-based Morgan Creek Digital Assets with Mark Yusko in 2018. He also runs the Pomp Crypto Jobs website. He has attracted attention for saying pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, advocated for the inclusion of crypto in pension funds, and dismissed crypto mining’s energy consumption saying, “crucial things in the world use energy.”

Morgan Creek Digital Assets was reportedly putting together an alternative offer for BlockFi before FTX invested $680 million in the crypto lender in a bailout in July.