FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried says crypto ‘has the potential to improve a lot of people’s lives’, but still needs a lot more clarity from US regulators

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried says crypto ‘has the potential to improve a lot of people’s lives’, but still needs a lot more clarity from US regulators

FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried believes the crypto industry could improve people's lives — it just needs clearer guidance from regulators to make it happen. The crypto exchange CEO laid out what he sees as the benefits of digital currencies before US lawmakers on Wednesday. "The industry has the potential to improve a lot of people's lives. There are a lot of ways that this can happen. I think that the payments side of this gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so," he told members of the House Financial Services Committee. Bankman-Fried noted that people making cross-border payments to family members can face double-digit percentage fees, and that global remittances can take weeks to arrive. It's a particular problem for the hardest-off, who don't have the same access to financial services as they stand, he argued. "When you look at the number of people who are underbanked, or unbanked, in the United States and globally — it's indicative of a system that does not work for everyone," Bankman-Fried told the lawmakers. "Cryptocurrencies do provide a potential way to address a number of these issues, making it easier, cheaper, faster and more equitable for people to do what they need to