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Crypto.com CEO addresses FUD,says he ‘has nothing to hide’
Kris Marszalek talked about his failed business from 20 years ago and said the lessons he learned then made him who he is today.
2 min read
Updated: Aug. 27, 2023 at 12:21 pm UTC
RISE / Flickr / CC BY 2.0. Remixed by CryptoSlate
Crypto exchange crypto.com‘s CEO Kris Marszalek posted a thread on his Twitter account to acknowledge that more FUD targeting crypto.com is coming and that he had “nothing to hide.”
Marszalek implied that the attackers focused on his failed business from 20 years ago to spread FUD about him and his current company. To address the community’s concerns, Marszalek disclosed the details about his failed business and added that the lessons he learned from his mistakes brought him to his current position.
2) It’s important to note that my early failures made me who I am today: an effective operator, who knows how to both grow a business and manage risk.
— Kris | Crypto.com (@kris) December 7, 2022
Starline
According to his thread, Marszalek co-founded a consumer electronics company called Starline in 2004. In two years, the company grew to be a medium size business but got hit by the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2009, the company went through a forced liquidation and ended up owing $2.5 million to the bank. Marszalek said this experience taught him:
“1. Never borrow money or use financial leverage to drive growth.
2. Do not engage in business models where the more you sell the less cash you have.
3. Always be prepared for a financial crisis. It will affect you, sometimes in ways that are hard to predict.”
Marszalek fully paid his debt to the bank by 2012 with the money he earned from an e-commerce business he started after Starline.
Marszalek also hinted that the three lessons he learned in this process are crucial to the well-being of his current company, crypto.com.
Crypto.com’s latest updates
After the collapse of FTX, Crypto.com only partially disclose its reserves. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to soothe the community’s contagion fears and raised questions about whether crypto.com is insolvent. To address these questions, Marszalek said, “withdrawals are working as usual.”
One day before this statement, on Nov. 13, Marszalek admitted that Crypto.com accidentally transferred 85% of its Ethereum (ETH) reserves to Gatei.io during November. Marszalek had also vocalized his concerns about FUD targeting crypto.com at the time.
Mentioned in this article
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.
Editor Editor 
News Desk
CryptoSlate is a comprehensive and contextualized source for crypto news, insights, and data. Focusing on Bitcoin, macro, DeFi and AI.
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In this article
Ethereum
$3,033.64
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Crypto.com
Crypto.com was founded in 2016 on a simple belief: it’s a basic human right for everyone to control their money, data and identity.
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.
Kris Marszalek is a Polish entrepreneur and the CEO of Singapore-based crypto and payments platform Crypto.com.
