Kevin O’Leary has been somewhat of a popular voice in the cryptocurrency industry over the past year. In mid-December 2022, he was called out by the community following his remarks about Binance. The Shark Tank host outrightly blamed Binance for putting FTX out of business. In retrospect, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance called him a liar.
Appearing in a recent interview with Kitco NEWS, O’Leary suggested that unregulated exchanges will continue collapsing one behind the other. Warning about potential meltdowns in the future, he said,
“If you’re asking me if there’s going to be another meltdown to zero? Absolutely. One hundred percent it’ll happen, and it’ll keep happening over, and over and over again.”
Post the collapse of FTX, companies have collectively been striving to rekindle hope and win back the eroded trust of market participants. A plethora of exchanges including Binance, Bitfinex, Bitmex, Kraken, OKX, and WazirX have jumped onto the Proof of Reserve bandwagon to ensure consumers that their assets were protected.
Also Read: WazirX Reserves Worth $286M: Shiba Inu Accounts For 19%
Transparency and accountability hold the key
Others from the ecosystem feel that this is the sieving period. For companies to exhibit their sustainability potential, they will have to pass the test of time.
Elaborating on the same and commenting on the importance of transparency, Max Krupyshev, the Co-Founder & CEO of crypto payment ecosystem CoinsPaid told WatcherGuru via a textual commentary,
“In my opinion, 2023 will be a lot about transparency for the crypto companies. Businesses will have to prove that they are legit, and perhaps we might see some consortium of companies who are good and play by the rules.”
The executive also said that going down the line, we might see independent groups of people “imposing some sort of non-official regulation” for companies to make sure that they do not derail.
O’Leary, however, was on a different page. In the Kitco News interview, he opined,
“I think regulation doesn’t have to be. It’s not going to change fraud, it’s just going to make it much easier for people to understand what the rules are.”
Nevertheless, he revealed that lawmakers are likely to finalize a regulatory framework soon. Elaborating on how regulators are tired of holding hearings, he said,
“When I had a chance to talk to the lawmakers, I sensed that they were frustrated now. They’re tired of putting these hearings on every six months every time one of these crypto companies blows up and goes to zero. They’re so unregulated.”
If companies choose the easy path or look for loopholes, they will possibly not be able to stay afloat. He also emphasized that institutional capital will not flow in or stay in companies that choose to be unregulated or unaudited.
Due diligence is equally critical
Fake projects, rug pulls and scams continue to take place in the space. Quite recently, for instance, a fake Bonk token was created on Polygon and eventually shed almost 97% of its value.
Thus, other prominent voices from the space feel that 2023 will be the year of accountability. Elucidating on the same, Samantha Yap, Founder and CEO of YAP Global told Watcher Guru,
“Due diligence and investments should always go hand in hand. The crypto industry has fought hard to move away from a reputation of mistrust and association with ponzi schemes, but sadly some players are still in the industry for the wrong reasons.”
She added,
“Following the collapse of Terra, 3AC, Celsius, and FTX, 2023 will see a demand for more accountability from the crypto community.”
Also Read: Did Solana-based ‘Bonk’ Drop By 97%?