Kevin O’Leary: Crypto Exchanges Will Continue Going To ‘ZERO’

Lavina Daryanani
Source: CNBC

Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has seldom shied away from outrightly opining on any subject. In mid-December 2022, he was called out by the community following his remarks about Binance. O’Leary blamed Binance for putting FTX out of business. In retrospect, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, called him a liar.

Now, on Friday, the Shark Tank host tweeted that crypto exchanges will continue “going to ZERO,” unless regulations are forcefully imposed.

Also Read – FTX: Kevin O’Leary loses $15M but continues to defend SBF

Following the demise of FTX, regulators have become even more cautious. Over the past few weeks, a host of enforcement actions have been taken. For instance, Kraken recently agreed to end its “staking” program in the U.S. and pay $30 million to settle an SEC probe.

Paxos was ordered by the New York Department of Financial Services to stop issuing the Binance USD stablecoin. Alongside, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission [ASIC] just revealed today that it is conducting a “targeted review” of Binance’s local derivatives business.

Read More – Australia: ASIC Is Conducting a “Targeted Review” of Binance

Crypto community reacts

A few from the community went on to point out how it was essential for investors to carry out “due diligence” before diverting their funds into “honeypots” like FTX. Here, it is worth recalling that Kevin O’Leary was one of the poster children of FTX. Due to the collapse, he failed to bag the $15 million that the exchange had paid him to be its spokesperson. Despite that, he continued to defend SBF.

Commenting on O’Leary’s latest tweet, a particular user said,

Your opinion on anything regarding cryptocurrency should be taken with a pinch of salt. Especially after endorsing FTX!

Another user tweeted,

“People lost billions listening to your crypto advice. Leave it to the pros and stay in your lane. PS: you are literally the voice of regulatory capture and every tweet loses you more respect.”

Another stalwart from the space, “Cryptomom” disregarded O’Leary’s claims of exchanges going to zero. She tweeted,

“Coinbase, Crypto.com, Kucoin, Binance aren’t going to zero like FTX did. And we don’t need old money coming to tell us how to run Crypto. We got this!”

Well, this is not the first time the Shark Tank host has put forth his views regarding exchanges. In an interview with Kitco NEWS in January, O’Leary predicted that unregulated exchanges would continue to collapse one after 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.”

Also Read: Cryptocurrency: Kevin O’Leary Predicts ‘This’ Will 100% Happen Again