Despite the widely publicized collapse of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, which he had vehemently supported, Kevin O’Leary is not giving up on the cryptocurrency space, announcing a new crypto exchange that he said was going to replace Sam Bankman-Fried’s disgraced firm, as well as Binance.
As it happens, the star of the investing-focused reality television show Shark Tank said a new crypto exchange, called M2, was awaiting launch in Abu Dabi and would become the largest regulated platform of its kind in the world, as he explained in an interview with Fox Business streamed on November 14.
“The age of the crypto cowboy – FTX and Binance – those days are over. And then you’ve got this pending announcement, rumored, in the next month, in the next ten days, they will announce M2 in Abu Dhabi, the largest exchange ever that’s regulated, with billions backing it and tied to huge financial institutions.”
According to O’Leary, despite the fact that no American would be able to register, Binance will “probably lose half of its accounts to the new M2 because now you can go off something that the SEC is suing and go on to a compliant exchange backed by billions of dollars and huge financial institutions.”
O’Leary and crypto exchanges
As a reminder, the famous venture capitalist promoted the defunct crypto exchange FTX shortly before its crash, which has since led to the uncovering of massive fraud and conspiracy, as well as the subsequent arrest and criminal trial of its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Back in December 2022, O’Leary revealed his involvement with FTX had cost him millions of dollars, although he had received $15 million from the exchange to advocate for it, and he received some heat, along with other famous backers, over the lack of research they had carried out before endorsing the company.
He had even gone as far as accusing Binance of putting FTX out of business in what he referred to as an intentional move while claiming that the two were in a brawl before the matter exploded, as he pointed out in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on December 14.
More recently, in February 2023, O’Leary shared some scathing criticism directed at unregulated crypto exchanges, arguing they would continue to end up in bankruptcy until the government imposes some strong regulations on the crypto industry, as Finbold reported on February 24.
Watch the entire video below:
