Animoca Founder Says Crypto ‘Cheering’ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Arrest

A co-founder of crypto investor and game developer Animoca Brands Corp. said many in the digital-asset industry welcome the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried because it helps to separate the fallen tycoon from the sector.

“The reputational impact for crypto has definitely been affected because Sam was such a prolific figure,” Yat Siu, also chairman of Animoca Brands, said on Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “But I think today, especially the news of his arrest, many people in our industry are actually cheering it on.”

The US has charged Bankman-Fried with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and several other counts for allegedly misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds from his now defunct FTX exchange. He’s under arrest in the Bahamas, where the platform was based.

“For a long time people were confused because they didn’t understand what was going on,” Siu said. “Some people just thought, hmm, is it just crypto as an industry? Clearly it’s not, but that’s basically what people were afraid of.”

Asked about the impact of FTX’s bankruptcy on gaming startups in Animoca’s portfolio, Siu said “it’s very minor.” He added that Animoca is doing what it can but “it’s not been quite as bad as we feared.”

Bankman-Fried has denied knowingly committing fraud in numerous media interviews. His lawyer Mark Cohen said in a statement on Tuesday that Bankman-Fried is “reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options.”