No one is happier about that than the professionals in the industry that made him, for a time, a rock star. When Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire collapsed last November, it sent the fledgling industry back years. For the crypto faithful who are still standing and striving, the trial couldn’t be over soon enough. “With the trial’s conclusion, the crypto community can start to turn the page on this unfortunate chapter,” said Bobby Zagotta, US CEO of Bitstamp, a European-based exchange.
Several firms that were exposed to FTX filed for bankruptcy or were forced to halt withdrawals. Regulators swooped in with lawsuits accusing some of the biggest names in the business, such as Coinbase and Binance, of selling unregistered securities. FTX customers whose deposits evaporated are still waiting in limbo to see whether they’ll be made whole. The memory of Bankman-Fried won’t be easily erased.