U.S. regulators are investigating whether beleaguered crypto-exchange FTX.com mishandled customer funds, and they’re looking into the firm’s relationships with other parts of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire.
The inquiries by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission relate to the liquidity crisis that has pushed FTX to the brink, according to three people familiar with the matter. The SEC’s scrutiny started months ago as a probe into FTX US and its crypto-lending activities, said two of the people, who who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
FTX’s turmoil led to a tentative rescue offer by rival exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., which on Wednesday backed off of the offer. Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao walked away from his bailout almost as quickly as he offered a rescue.
