SBF circus shows crypto needs a ringmaster
The Sam Bankman-Fried trial has only heightened doubts about crypto's credibility and boosted arguments for regulation.
Step right up for a most amazing show! You can almost hear the spruikers calling as the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried plays out. It has been a compelling process for those in the crypto bubble, but also for anyone else with even a passing interest in the newest reaches of finance.
The trial has also done little for crypto’s desire to shift from the fringe to the mainstream. Indeed the circus involving the man acronymed to SBF has almost certainly hardened the view of central banks and regulators in most advanced economies that while digital currencies and platforms can be good, what they call “unbacked” cryptocurrencies are not.
As the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Assistant Governor (Financial System) Brad Jones said this week, “it’s possible that unbacked cryptocurrencies remain a hotbed of speculative interest but I struggle to envisage them playing an expansive role in the financial system of the future”.
Jones was more welcoming of asset-backed stablecoins (issued by banks or non-banks), tokenised bank deposits and wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
