FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried spent more time lobbying lawmakers in D.C. than any other executive that Blockchain Association executive director Kristin Smith has seen in her 20-year career.
“He did a tremendous amount of damage,” Smith said during a recent episode of gm from Decrypt, making it clear that FTX was never a Blockchain Association member.
“Sam testified before Congress multiple times, he had incredibly detailed proposals at the [Commodities Future Trading Commission] and also legislatively that he was working on," Smith said. "He was spending a tremendous amount of time walking the halls of Congress, meeting with members, meeting with leadership, meeting with staff—he would take them out for drinks.
"I’ve never seen, in my 20-plus year career in Washington, an executive spend this much time personally lobbying Capitol Hill,” she added.
All Comments