As the demise of the FTX crypto empire unfolds — on Twitter, in bankruptcy proceedings, in congressional hearings and potentially in criminal court — lawmakers and regulators are grappling with a question: What, if anything, should they do to civilize a market so rife with abuse?
A few simple fixes should suffice.
For all the grief it might have given individual investors, the FTX debacle has also had benefits. It exposed the flaws of a market that never had much to do with the underlying blockchain technology. It helped deflate the crypto bubble and eliminate some of the riskiest participants. It also vindicated officials who saw peril in the speculative frenzy surrounding virtual tokens with no intrinsic value.
