Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried to testify before Congress next week

‘There is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like,’ crypto founder says

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to testify before Congress about the failure of his cryptocurrency exchange.

Mr Bankman-Fried took to Twitter to say that he was “willing to testify” for the House Financial Services Committee on 13 December.

“I still do not have access to much of my data – professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like,” he added.

“But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”

He said that he will “try to be helpful during the hearing” and give the committee information on FTX US’s “solvency and American customers”, “pathways that could return value to users internationally” and “my own failings.”

His offer to testify comes after a string of requests from lawmakers, including Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

“I had thought of myself as a model CEO, who wouldn’t become lazy or disconnected. Which made it that much more destructive when I did,” added 30-year-old Mr Bankman-Fried.

1) I still do not have access to much of my data -- professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won't be as helpful as I'd like.

But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th. https://t.co/KR34BsNaG1

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 9, 2022

“I’m sorry. Hopefully people can learn from the difference between who I was and who I could have been.”

FTX collapsed after users withdrew around $5bn worth of crypto assets in a single day.