Crypto's been 'cut to ribbons' - but it can survive FTX's crash if players stop lighting each other up on Twitter, Anthony Scaramucci says
Reuters/ Rick Wilking
- Anthony Scaramucci said the crypto industry has been "cut to ribbons" this year, after FTX's crash.
- He said the industry can only grow up if crypto players stop lighting each other up on Twitter.
- "The problem with the industry is there's a lot of young people that like antagonizing each other."
Crypto's been "cut to ribbons" — but it can survive the FTX collapse if young players stop lighting each other up on Twitter, according to SkyBridge Capital's Antony Scaramucci.
Scaramucci stressed that the crypto industry can only grow up if crypto players collaborated with each more instead of banging heads with each other.
"What should the industry do to survive and make it better? In my opinion, it's more collaboration but the problem with the industry is there's a lot of young people that like antagonizing each other and lighting each other up on Twitter," he said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
To illustrate his point, he used a recent Twitter spat between FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who also goes by "CZ," which ultimately led to the collapse of Bankman-Fried's crypto empire.
"I think there was a red flag, sort of a penalty flag of Sam going after CZ, but also CZ going after Sam," he said.
Before FTX's downfall that reverberated through the crypto industry, Zhao tweeted that Binance would be liquidating all its FTT tokens — a crypto token native to FTX — due to "recent revelations."
In response, Bankman-Fried appeared to strike back at Zhao, tweeting: "a competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors," per media reports including Bloomberg and Reuters.
"I think it would be better for everybody if we just sort of calm things down and row in the boat together in synchronicity as opposed to taking the oar and smacking each other over the head," Scaramucci said.
His firm was exposed to FTX's collapse after Bankman-Fried bought a 30% stake in his company. Now, Scaramucci is trying to buy back that portion. He told CNBC hours before FTX filed for bankruptcy that he's in a worse position because Bankman-Fried has hurt the industry.