Crypto.com CEO tries to reassure investors in rattled markets

Crypto.com's CEO tried Monday to reassure investors after the company had to recover $400 million following an erroneous transfer, further shaking markets rattled by the collapse of fellow trading site FTX.

Chief of the Singapore-based firm Kris Marszalek said on a livestream the company had a "very strong balance sheet".

The platform managed to recover $400 million after it had transferred the ether cryptocurrency to the wrong account.

FTX's bankruptcy has sent chills across the digital currency landscape. As recently as 10 days ago, FTX was considered the world's second-largest cryptocurrency platform, at one point valued at $32 billion.

"Everybody is truly shocked with the collapse of FTX," said Marszalek.

He said the bankruptcy had set the industry back "a good couple of years in the reputation that we have built".

"Trust was damaged, if not lost, so in this kind of tumultuous time, what we need to do is focus on rebuilding this trust."

Hannah Yee-Fen Lim, a legal expert on cryptocurrencies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the damage had already been done.

"People are becoming more street smart. FTX was just the latest example of the crypto blow up. People are waking up and realising the dangers of such volatile investments," she told AFP.

"No amount of reassuring is actually going to convince those who already have lost their faith in crypto."