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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Molly White

Sam Bankman-Fried is going to prison. The crypto industry isn’t any better for it

man in a suit surrounded by people, one of whom has a badge reading police
‘When they say that all the bad actors have been weeded out, ask: what’s actually changed?’ Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

There is a palpable feeling of relief in the cryptocurrency industry. Evangelists are preaching the good news that the industry has been purged of the Sam Bankman-Frieds, the Alex Mashinskys, the Do Kwons and the Changpeng Zhaos of the world. They proclaim that crypto can finally ascend from its purgatorial, “wild west” days to become a respectable sector of the financial world blessed by regulators and speculators alike.

That exultant attitude has contributed to surging cryptocurrency prices, which surpassed previous all-time highs in the weeks leading up to Bankman-Fried’s sentencing of 25 years in prison on Thursday.

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