FTX collapse should provide momentum to regulate crypto

The collapse and bankruptcy of digital asset exchange FTX offers stark lessons into why rules that apply to traditional investments—overseen by government regulation—ought to apply to digital investments as well.

As recently as Nov. 6, FTX, founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried, was one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, with $16 billion in assets under its control. By Nov. 11, the company filed for bankruptcy following a week in which investors and customers demanded to cash out their investments and sell their FTX tokens (FTT), all at once.

Even for the cryptocurrency industry, which has become accustomed to wild swings in value, the speed of FTX’s fall was stunning. What happened?