The boss of cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has hit out at “naysayers” questioning its financial health as the market jitters after the collapse of rival exchange FTX.
Kris Marszalek, chief executive of Singapore-based crypto.com, insisted it had a robust balance sheet and took no risks after investors took to Twitter over the weekend to question a transfer of $400m of ether tokens to another exchange.
He used a “ask me anything” discussion via YouTube to address the speculation over the 21 October transfer, which the Wall Street Journal reported had sparked a series of withdrawals, saying the tokens had been recovered.
“At no point were the funds at risk of being sent somewhere they could not be retrieved. It had nothing to do with any of the craziness from FTX,” he told the 7,000-strong audience.
Mr Marszalek first moved to reassure them that the exchange was on a sound footing.
He promised an audited proof of reserves report to be published within weeks, adding that crypto.com did not engage in any “irresponsible lending products”.
Commenting on the spectacular public collapse of FTX last week, with at least $1bn of client funds missing according to a Reuters news agency report, Mr Marszalek said: “This has set the industry back a good couple of years in the reputation that we have built.
“Trust was damaged, if not lost, and we need to focus on rebuilding trust.”
He said that crypto.com had about $10m exposure to the FTX collapse.
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Crypto.com is among the top 10 exchanges by turnover globally but smaller than FTX and market leader Binance.
Bitcoin and ether were trading about 1% higher early on Monday at $16,650 and $1,226 respectively.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Although the immediate storm following the collapse of the huge exchange FTX, has subsided, the destruction left in its wake has been considerable and crypto speculators hit hard by these recent losses, will be licking some painful wounds.
“This is a painful reminder that the crypto wild west is still a fragile niche in the larger financial system, where money is being bet on highly speculative assets.
“In this opaque world, fraud is rife and although the clamour for greater regulation will mount, this whole debacle also comes with a sense of relief that the deep scepticism among regulators about crypto’s stability has ringfenced larger more established financial institutions from contagion.”