Congressman Brad Sherman claims FTX ‘deterred legislation’ with money Congressman Brad Sherman claims FTX ‘deterred legislation’ with money
Congressman Brad Sherman said his anti-crypto stance was correct all along and urged the SEC to take decisive action.
2 min read
Updated: Sep. 26, 2023 at 2:38 am UTC
Office of Congressman Brad Sherman. Public Domain
Anti-crypto Congressman Brad Sherman released a statement on the FTX crash and said that FTX has been supporting Democrats to influence crypto regulations and that he was correct to urge the SEC to take action against unregistered exchanges in early 2022.
He also added that he plans to examine options for federal crypto legislation with his colleagues in the coming weeks.
SBF’s donations
Sherman claimed that millionaire crypto personalities had “flooded Washington” with millions of dollars. Even though these funds were disguised as campaign donations,
He said:
“A great deal of attention has been given to former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Friedโs, political donations to Democrats; most of that was spent in primaries (mostly unsuccessfully), not to help Democrats beat Republicans.
When you examine FTX efforts to influence Washington, you have to look at both CEOs, not just the eccentric guy wearing the shorts.โ
Sherman added that he witnessed the co-CEO of FTX Bahamas, Ryan Salame, donate over $23 million to Republican candidates.
In addition to Salame’s contribution, FTX.US representative Nishad Singh also donated $6 million to Republicans as well, according to OpenSecrets.
In addition, FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried spared $39,826 million in donations in the 2021-22 election cycle, which made him the sixth-largest political donor to either party.
Sherman reaffirms anti-crypto stance
Sherman acknowledged the severity of financial losses with the FTX’s collapse and said the full scope of the event is still unforeseeable. He emphasized the importance of realizing the “management failures that led to this collapse” and taking action.
He claimed that his attitude toward the crypto industry has been legitimized and urged the SEC to take decisive action in the same direction to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.
Sherman said:
“For years I have advocated for Congress and federal regulators to take an aggressive approach in confronting the many threats to our society posed by cryptocurrencies…I believe it is important now more than ever that the SEC take decisive action to put an end to the regulatory gray area in which the crypto industry has operated.”
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Author 
Zeynep Geylan
Zeynep is an academic who turned to crypto in 2018. Originating in social sciences, she is especially interested in the social impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and strongly believes in their transmuting power.
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In this article
Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Kraken
Kraken is a San Francisco-based digital asset exchange in euro volume and liquidity that trades various currencies, including Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds, and Japanese yen.
FTX
FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.
Congressman Brad Sherman, born and raised in Southern California represents much of Californiaโs San Fernando Valley, and is serving his thirteenth term in the U.S.
Sam Bankman-Fried is the former CEO, and co-founder of defunct crypto exchange FTX and Alameda Research.
Jesse Powell is an expert in virtual currencies, online/international payments and fraud, as well as co-founder and former CEO of Kraken, one of the most trusted and largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world with number one EUR market share.